MU program enters 10th year teaching teachers to teach math to elementary students

Corey Webel hopes he won't hear future generations of adults utter the words: "Don't make me do math."

Webel directs the elementary math specialist program at the University of Missouri, starting its 10th year. The certificate program for the first time has received funding from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to fund 100 elementary math teachers over the next two years.

While many adults hate math, Webel said he thinks he's found a solution that will benefit this generation of elementary students.

"I think part of it is getting kids curious and helping them see mathematics as problem-solving," Webel said. "Many kids like video games. Mathematics can feel like that, too. You can make it harder or easier. You get a sense of satisfaction and proceed to the next level."

The program includes information about algebraic reasoning, geometry and  measurement, but Webel said the algebra isn't solving for an unknown.

"It's noticing patterns and determining what's next in a pattern," Webel said. "Building a pyramid, how many blocks will be on the next level?"

There's also an explanation of understanding the equal sign as something other than "this is the answer" but instead the left side of the equation is the same as the right side, he said.

Previous funding has come from the National Science Foundation, but Webel said this is the first state infusion of money into the program.

The funding also is supporting elementary teachers at the University of Central Missouri, Northwest Missouri State University, Southeast Missouri State University and the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

There have been 60 teachers through the program at MU and about 400 across all institutions, Webel said.

Jenifer Smith, elementary math coordinator for Columbia Public Schools, completed the program last summer and is passing her knowledge on to other teachers.

“Math should not just be about memorizing a bunch of steps to solve a problem. It’s about making sense of what is happening and creating a story to contextualize what it is that they are doing and solving,” Smith said in a news release.

“Getting students to talk with each other and share what approaches they used to solve a problem a certain way is key. It is not enough to just know if they got the answer right, what is even more important is how they are thinking and ensuring they are making the right connections along the way.”

It's impossible to overstate the importance of elementary math, Webel said.

"Being able to make sense of the world and information and data is so important," he said. "So is knowing the difference between a median and a mean and making everyday financial decisions."

He mentioned A&W Restaurants abandoning its 1/3 pound burger because people thought it was smaller than McDonalds' quarter-pounder.

He's working this semester with teachers at Battle Elementary School.

"They're doing amazing things," Webel said. "They feel ownership over what they're doing."

And if he has his wish, future generations of adults may be heard saying: "Please let me do math."

"It's a way of making sense of the world,"  Webel said.

Roger McKinney is the education reporter for the Tribune. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on Twitter at @rmckinney9.