CONT931: Teaching Mathematics in BC Secondary Schools
You already teach mathematics — but this course invites you to rethink how it lives in BC secondary classrooms. You’ll look beyond covering content to explore how the BC curriculum can develop thinking, curiosity, and mathematical identity. Through modelling, rich tasks, and problem solving, you’ll examine how students construct understanding and reflect on how your own experiences as a math learner shapes your approach to teaching.
As you connect theory to classroom practice, you’ll design meaningful learning experiences and rethink assessment as a tool for learning rather than judgment. Expect to challenge familiar routines and experiment with new ideas, leaving with practical strategies you can use immediately. This course isn’t about teaching more math — it’s about teaching mathematics with purpose.
Learning Outcomes
What You Will Learn and Do
In this course, you’ll have the opportunity to
- identify personal teaching beliefs and values that influence your classroom practices
- describe how key mathematical concepts build progressively through the curriculum
- integrate problem solving, reasoning, and modelling tasks to reinforce progressive skill development
- deepen your understanding of the BC Mathematics curriculum by connecting big ideas, content, core competencies, numeracy, and the attributes of an educated citizen
- explore and apply learning theories and instructional strategies that support mathematical understanding, student engagement, curricular competencies, and the integration of the First Peoples' Principles of Learning in BC Mathematics classrooms
- reflect on and evaluate teaching practices by analyzing the effectiveness of instructional approaches and their impact on student learning and outcomes
- examine and reflect on assessment practices by exploring triangulation, analyzing the role of curricular competencies, investigating the BC numeracy assessment, and considering how numeracy processes inform teaching pedagogy
- critically reflect on and analyze the role of AI in mathematics education, including the evaluation of AI-generated mathematical and Indigenous-focused learning tasks
Assessments
Module 1
Foundations of Learning Mathematics
Module 2
Connecting with Learners, Colleagues, and AI
Progress Update 1
Module 3
Dissecting the BC Math Curriculum
Module 4
Learning Progressions: Where Student Are and Where They Go
Formative Assessment
Module 5
How Do You Know? Assessment
Progress Update 2
Module 6
Problems, Projects, and More
Module 7
Course Culminating Task
Summative Assessment