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Helping Teachers Teach Math

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An Ohio University collaborative program is trying to help elementary school teachers better teach math.

The program called Better Mathematics through Literacy attempts to help teachers find new ways to improve elementary mathematics instruction.

Ohio University Professor Tim McKeny in the School of Education helped develop the program and appeared on WOUB Television's Newswatch last night.

"We found that there's about 20 years of research saying there's a huge gap in the way that elementary teachers know mathematics and the way that they teach it through teacher-centered methods," says McKeny. "Most of the time teachers say, 'Here let me show you what to do' and then students go practice on 20 to 30 problems per a workbook page. This provides an integrated perspective for teaching mathematics that teachers can readily apply to their classrooms."

The program includes a week-long training session in the summer and three academic year follow-ups.