Westminster College's Drinko Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning is hosting "Cognitively Demanding Tasks: A Prerequisite for Rigorous Mathematics Instruction K-12" Tuesday, Sept. 26, from 4-6 p.m. in the Witherspoon Rooms of the McKelvey Campus Center.

The presenter, Margaret Schwan Smith, is an associate professor in the Department of Instruction and Learning School of Education and a research scientist at the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh. She works with preservice elementary, middle, and high school mathematics teachers at the University of Pittsburgh; with doctoral students in mathematics education who are interested in becoming teacher educators; and with practicing middle and high school mathematics teachers. Over the past decade, she has developed research-based materials for use in the development of math teachers and studied what teachers learn from the professional development in which they engage. Smith is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the National Council of Teachers Mathematics (2006-2009). In 2006, she was selected to receive the Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award given annually to honor outstanding faculty at the University of Pittsburgh.

The topic of this seminar is Lappan & Briars' 1995 statement: "There is no decision that teachers make that has a greater impact on students' opportunities to learn and on their perceptions about what mathematics is than the selection or creation of the tasks with which the teacher engages students studying in mathematics." Smith will help participants of this seminar to analyze and discuss various types of mathematical tasks and consider how they impact students' learning opportunities.

The Drinko Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning was developed to advance world-class teaching at Westminster and enrich K-12 education through outreach programs for area educators

The seminar offers three hours of CPE credit. Fax reservations to Carol Fiumara at (412) 648-7185 or mail requests to Fiumara at 4302 Posvar Hall, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA 15260. Applications can also be e-mailed to wmcnlis@pitt.edu.

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