Description of MathVIDS Learning Resources/Sites

MathVIDS is comprised of four primary resources:

• Foundational Information
• Instructional Strategies
• Teaching Plans
• Organized Professional Development/Training Modules 

Foundational Information

Foundational information complements the Instructional Strategies and Teaching Plans sites. The Understanding Mathematical Learning Problems site describes why students with mathematical learning problems have difficulty learning mathematics. This information can be especially helpful with understanding why your students may have difficulty learning mathematics. The Metacognitive Strategies site (found under "Videos and Resources") describes why metacognitive (learning) strategy instruction helps students with learning problems. This site also provides examples of research-based or field-tested math metacognitive strategies. This site will be especially helpful as you learn about the research-based instructional strategy “Teaching Metacognitive Strategies” found under "Instructional Strategies" site.

Instructional Strategies

The Instructional Strategies site describes and models fifteen, research-supported effective mathematics instructional practices for students with learning difficulties. It is highly recommended that you explore this site and familiarize yourself with the instructional strategies modeled before accessing the Teaching Plans site.

Teaching Plans

The Teaching Plans site provides detailed instructional plans and selected video models for teaching specific K-5 math concepts/SOL/NCTM Standards. The purpose of the teaching plans is to demonstrate how combinations of the research-supported instructional practices modeled in the Instructional Strategies site can be integrated to teach selected math concepts/SOL/NCTM Standards. It is not presumed that the teaching plans demonstrate the only way these mathematical concepts can be taught. The teaching plans do provide a conceptual framework for how to both integrate and implement effective mathematics instructional strategies to teach a sample of important mathematical concepts. The teaching plans were written with the assumption that users have at least a basic working knowledge of the instructional strategies. Thereforre, it is highly recommended that you familiarize yourself with the instructional strategies found in the Instructional Strategies site before using the Teaching Plans site.

Organized Professional Development-MathVIDS Learning Community

This site was developed to assist districts, schools, and teacher teams to conduct organized professional development involving MathVIDS. It is based on the concept of "learning communities" where groups of individuals learn with and from each other. The MathVIDS learning community site consists of four modules. Each module has been designed to provide educators learning experiences that will strengthen their understanding of information/skills important for providing effective mathematics instruction for struggling learners. Additionally, the activities in each module provide participants an introduction to different parts of the MathVIDS website. Participants can communicate with each other online and share information and ideas. The MathVIDS Learning Community is designed to be use for long-term/continuous professional development that can support both "on-site" and online professional development experiences.