Welcome to the Connective Ideas Webcast

In this 8 hour hour, 4 part series, we focus on understanding the multiplicative nature of number by exploring the Connective Idea of Unitization. We’ll then use this understanding to traverse the concepts of addition, multiplication, subtraction, and division from arithmetic to algebra. In each session we tackle one concept — addition, multiplication, subtraction, division — and discuss the way we conceptualize it and which Connective Ideas help forge a full understanding of it. We’ll take you step-by-step through a series of expressions, working across whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and algebraic expressions and help you rebuild an understanding of how to tackle expressions in various number forms using this conceptualization.

You’ll find that there is beautiful simplicity in the way the concept transfers across number forms, and you’ll learn that the Connective Ideas unlock powerful reasoning. Ultimately you will find that you are re-structuring the “architecture of the discipline” in your mind, and creating a much richer and deeper knowledge structure for yourself. This journey will be unlike anything you have been through before as a mathematician or math teacher, and our focus in this webcast is on you — your transformation as a mathematician.

*This originally ran as a live webinar in July 2020 called The Virtual Mini-Institute: Cultivating Number Reasoning Through the Connective Ideas of Arithmetic to Algebra.