Tape diagrams can illuminate the meaning of operations and help students and teachers make sense of problems. In this workshop, we will explore the ways in which tape diagrams can be incorporated into mathematics instruction to support student understanding of the relationship between the values in a problem. We will represent complex problems ourselves using tape diagrams and consider the impact of shared representations on the building of robust mathematical communities.
Objectives:
• Gain an understanding of how tape diagrams represent the meaning of operations
• Experience how tape diagrams help problem solvers make sense of problems and develop solution paths
• Develop ideas for how to incorporate tape diagrams into instruction