Use of Common Content Knowledge to raise questions
At another point in this discussion, Kathy used her SMK to question a strategy for folding a
circular piece of paper into six equal-sized parts. Fatima offered a potential approach, first
by folding the paper in half. Kathy used her knowledge of the mathematics at this level of
the LT to quickly question the strategy because she seemed unconvinced that it took the
original whole into consideration.
Fatima: Do you think if we made—do you think it would count if we made it into six?
And then like—
Kathy: If you just use half of it? But does it have to be a whole?
With this question, Kathy drew upon her Common Content Knowledge to question the
relation between the equal-sized parts and the original whole that would be created by
Fatima’s method.
Using Specialized Content Knowledge to connect with PCK
Faith was a member of another small group and used her SMK to offer insights to the
difficulties of the different target numbers of parts and shapes, as well as link the tasks with
factors of numbers. After the group recognized the difficulty of numbers that have an odd
factor, Faith used her Specialized Content Knowledge to suggest thinking about factors and