History of FGT

The Fostering Geometric Thinking in the Middle Grades (FGT) project began in 2004 amid concerns about U.S. students' performance in the area of geometry. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), released one year earlier, indicated that U.S. 8th grade students' weakest mathematical areas were geometry and measurement. U.S. 12th graders were found to have the lowest geometry achievement levels among all participating countries.

Supported by funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the FGT project was designed to address this problem by attending to the two central goals:

• increasing the research base on geometric thinking and its place in the middle grades, and
• enhancing middle grades teachers' geometric understanding and their understanding of and attention to student thinking.

FGT builds on lessons learned in an earlier project completed at the Education Development Center, the Fostering Algebraic Thinking Toolkit*. The FGT toolkit we are currently developing serves as a professional development curriculum for middle grades geometry teachers. The toolkit is now undergoing a second year of field testing in sites throughout the country. Findings from the field testing will assist us in refining the toolkit for publication in the near future. Our field testing also includes a research component aimed at addressing the following research questions related to our central goals:

• What features of geometric thinking are critical to student learning in the middle grades?
• Which geometric ideas are typically difficult for students to learn and teachers to teach?
• What aspects of teachers' understanding of geometric thinking need the greatest attention in professional development?
• In what ways does the use of professional development materials that target students' geometric ways of thinking increase teachers' content knowledge and understanding of student thinking in geometry and measurement?
• In what ways does the use of professional development materials that target students' geometric ways of thinking affect instructional practice in geometry?

*Driscoll, M., Goldsmith, L., Hammerman, J., Zawojewski, J., Humez, A., & Nikula, J. (2001). The fostering algebraic thinking toolkit. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.