San Diego State University is fortunate that three current and former faculty members,
Rebecca Ambrose, Vicki Jacobs, and Randy Philipp, were involved with the original CGI research conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
as graduate students. Once here in San Diego, they initiated both formal and informal
collaborations with local teachers, sharing their expertise and their deep curiosity
about children’s mathematical thinking. Thanks to them, San Diego is home to a strong
community of CGI teachers and trainers who continue to partner with the university
in hopes of bringing the highest quality mathematics instruction to the children of
our community. The CGI Professional Development Collaboration is an extension of this work.
CGI Overview
Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) is rooted in the idea that children’s thinking,
rather than a curriculum, should inform instructional decisions. Research demonstrates
that this environment results in higher achievement for all students. The CGI Professional
Development Collaborative at San Diego State University is excited to offer CGI courses
to the teachers of our community.
− More About CGI
Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) (Carpenter, Fennema, Franke, Levi, & Empson,
1999) is a research base and professional development program in which children’s thinking, rather than a curriculum, provides the basis for instructional decisions. Students
come to school with rich informal mathematical thinking and innate problem-solving
abilities. Teachers learn how mathematical thinking develops and start with what children
already know, building upon that knowledge and guiding children toward deeper, more
sophisticated levels of understanding.
In a CGI classroom, teachers pose novel problems with real world contexts and allow
their students to solve them in using strategies that they invent themselves and that
make sense to them. The focus is on developing conceptual understanding initially
as a solid foundation for the later development of abstract and efficient thinking.
This differs from the traditional approach of teaching facts and procedures first.
Students are encouraged and given the time to persevere with the support of their
teacher and peers when problems are difficult. Errors are valued as opportunities
for learning. Children share their solutions and engage in each other’s thinking as
the teacher listens carefully and responds thoughtfully to their ideas.
CGI research consistently demonstrates that teachers who know the details of their
students’ mathematical thinking have higher achieving students. The CGI Professional Development Collaborativeat San Diego State University offers CGI courses to the teachers of our community.