Here are some suggestions especially for the math students in Project Based Instruction.

I. Be sure to think carefully about where in the curriculum your project fits. The ideal is to create a project that you can actually carry out when you are teaching -- or maybe even when you are student teaching. Resources that can help you include:

• The Math TEKS with Clarifying Activities. The TEKS themselves are often ambiguous. The Clarifying Activities help explain what they are supposed to mean, and also give some ideas for activities.
• The Austin Independent School District Mathematics Curriculum Alignment Plans

One good choice of course for your project is the new secondary course Mathematical Models with Applications. Since there is no designated textbook for this course, there is a lot of freedom to try new things. Click here to read the TEKS for this course. Click here to link to more information.

II. Here are some sources for math activities.

III. In choosing activities, keep in mind the criteria given by your Project Based Instruction instructor. In addition, there are some criteria specific to mathematics that you should take into account. Here are some sources for these:

• The Professional Standards for School Mathematics include criteria for Worthwhile Mathematical Tasks.
• You can find more information and examples at the INSTRUCT (Implementing the NCTM School Teaching Recommendations Using Collaborative Telecommunications) website. (Link to Standards, then Worthwhile Mathematical Tasks, then follow the various links to further elaboration and examples.)
• There is also a list of characteristics of good mathematics investigations at the website From Exercises and Tasks to Problems and Projects. This website focuses especially on using computers well in mathematics teaching.
• The website for the middle school program Connected Mathematics has a section on Selecting Good Problems .
• The Math Forum Problem of the Week website includes a Rubric for Coding Problem Difficulty that may be useful in helping you include a range of problem difficulties.
  

IV. Be sure to try out any problems or activities you include in your project yourself. Look for two things:

1. Places where you have difficulty. Students are likely to have difficulty here, too. Think of appropriate ways to "scaffold" your students past these difficult points. You might also need a benchmark lesson or other activity to help students prepare for a difficult spot. But don't abandon an activity just because it has some difficult parts. An important part of your job as a math teacher is to help students learn to persist in difficult problems.
2. Places where you take something as obvious. These are also often places where students have difficulty, so you need to prepare to help them here, too.

V. Here are some examples of concept maps for mathematical topics. When you make up the concept map for your project, be sure to keep in mind what you learned from trying the problems or activities yourself.

VI. If you are interested in applying for a grant to develop your project, see the National Council of Teachers' Mathematical Education Trust website. It has information about the Toyota TIME grants, information about other grants an awards, and tips for writing grant proposals.

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