NCTM Standards

You may be asking yourself, "What do the curriculum focal points have to do with the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (PSSM)?" NCTM answers that identifying areas of emphasis at each grade level is the next step in implementing those principles and standards. Curriculum Focal Points for Prekindergarten Through Grade 8: A Quest for Coherence "provides one possible response to the question of how to organize curriculum standards within a coherent, focused curriculum, by showing how to build on important mathematical content and connections identified for each grade level, pre-K–8" (NCTM, 2006, p. 12).

The curriculum focal points draw on the content standards described in PSSM, at times clustering several topics in one focal point. Also, the process standards are pivotal to well-grounded instruction, for "it is essential that these focal points be addressed in contexts that promote problem solving, reasoning, communication, making connections, and designing and analyzing representations" (p.20).

This Middle School Portal publication offers resources intended to support you in teaching the key mathematical areas identified for grade 8: linear functions and simple systems of linear equations, parallel lines and angles in polygons, the Pythagorean theorem, polyhedra, and descriptive statistics. The selected resources are grounded in the Algebra, Geometry, and Data Analysis standards, and particularly in the process standards of Problem Solving and Representation.

A variety of formats (tutorials, lesson plans, games, problems, and projects) are provided for your use in teaching these focal points. We believe you will find here resources that engage your eighth graders in probing the deeper and increasingly abstract concepts of middle school mathematics.

A full description of the Curriculum Focal Points for Grade 8 is available at http://www.nctm.org/standards/focalpoints.aspx?id=340&ekmensel=c580fa7b_10_52_340_10

Curriculum Focal Points for Prekindergarten Through Grade 8: A Quest for Coherence may be viewed in its entirety at http://www.nctm.org/standards/content.aspx?id=270

NCTM. (2006). Curriculum Focal Points for Kindergarten Through Grade 8 Mathematics: A Quest for Coherence. Reston, VA: Author

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Copyright May 2008 — The Ohio State University. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0424671. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.