Lesson Study in Mathematics: Sequences & Series

Title: Sequences and Series
Authors: Dr. Whitney George (UW-La Crosse) & Dr. Nathan Warnberg (UW-La Crosse)
Discipline: Mathematics
Submission Date: June 1, 2016

This lesson study is a continuation of our 2015 Lesson Study on Sequences and Series. In the 2015 lesson study, our learning goal was to relate sequences and series. We realized that this was too large of a goal and for our 2016 lesson study, we narrowed our learning objectives to one objective: have students relate the sequence of partial sums to a given series. We simplified the lesson study to major concepts and left out many of the details including notation that can often distract students from the major ideas. We also asked repetitive questions for different series that were progressively harder. We found that the students had a better understanding of series and the underlying defining sequence. However students were not able to make the connection between the convergence of the sequence of partial sums and the convergence of the series as well as we had hoped. These were still two separate ideas for many of the students.

Sequences and Series - Final Report