Math 1201

Math 1201 (Number Sense and Open-Ended Problem Solving):

The proposal is to change the list of topics in Math 1201.

Current list:
Primarily for students in the elementary education curriculum. Cardinality and integers; decimal representation and the number line; exploratory data analysis; number sense; open-ended problem solving strategies; written communication of mathematics.

Proposed new list:
Primarily for students in the early childhood education PK-3 teacher certification curriculum or the elementary grades education curriculum. Cardinality and integers; decimal representation and the number line; number sense; open-ended problem solving strategies; expressions and equation solving; primes, factors, and proofs; ratio and proportion; written communication of mathematics.

Justification of the proposed changes:
Several math faculty have a Board of Regents Grant titled "The Mathematics College & Career Readiness and Retention Program."  One of the activities of the grant is to hold a workshop to set the stage to align all LSU math courses that are relevant to teacher preparation with the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and  Careers (PARCC).  These new standards have been adopted by 48 states including Louisiana, and will be used to guide the curriculum in K-12.   In the process of preparing for this workshop, it became apparent that the catalog description of Math 1201 needed to be updated based on current topic coverage and to include changes now being made to reflect alignment with the new CCSS.