Musser Back Cover

Hi. I'm Gary Musser and this is my co-author Blake Peterson. About thirty years ago, Bill Burger and I were in charge of teaching mathematics for elementary teachers at Oregon State University. No existing text book seemed right to us. So, we wrote and class-tested our own. We wanted a book that would parallel the development in mathematics in the elementary curriculum at an appropriate level. Moreover, since Bill had just finished the big research project on the teaching of geometry, we wanted our book to reflect his important findings. No book did that. Bill worked with me on the first two editions of this book until he passed away. We were fortunate at Oregon State to recruit Blake to replace Bill and to my delight Blake joined me as a co-author beginning with the fifth edition. Gary and I, both have Ph.D's in Mathematics. So as we worked on the book, we've been careful to make sure that it is mathematically sound. Both of us also had the opportunity to teach in the public schools. As a result, we have a focus on children's thinking. We strived to have a balance between mathematics that is accessible and related to student's mathematical thinking. And yet it is mathematically precise. When you look at the book, the mathematical strength would be quite clear. The focus on elementary student thinking is apparent in the order of the chapters. It's also seen in our discussion of the developmental stages of learning geometry called the Van Hiele levels, which we talk about in chapter twelve. Other assets of the book are the pedagogical aids. In particular, in the 10th edition, we have incorporated mathematical tasks in every section in the book. These tasks can be used by instructors to help the students be actively engaged in the learning process during instruction. Most of these tasks were developed by me based on my experience teaching the class. We are especially excited about this 10th edition. To support the learning process we have integrated QR symbols that connect to videos produced by Blake. These QR's can be read on most smart phones and tablets. We use QR's in 3 different ways. First, we have a video of our first page in note to our students, where we help students learn how to maximize the use of the book. Second, near the start of each chapter, Blake provides a walk through of the chapter to write students with a preview and a road map. Finally, Blake will describe his groundbreaking student videos contained throughout the book. I had conversations with many children about mathematical concepts similar to those we talk about in the book. It was intriguing to see how they thought mathematically as I visited with them. We feel that these videos would be a great asset to students who use our book as they better understand the learning of mathematics by elementary children. The great thing about these videos is how easier you all can access. Simply scan in a QR code like you did for this video and the video was there. We thank you and hope you enjoy learning from our book as much as we enjoyed writing it.