Math / CGI (Cognitively Guided Instruction)

Cognitively Guided instruction, or CGI, is based upon 30 years of research. It’s a framework that helps teachers to understand how children’s mathematical ideas develop, and provides an opportunity to build on the child’s own thinking and understanding. CGI is not a curriculum. CGI is not a lesson. CGI is a framework, a way of thinking about how children learn math that is research-based. The central theme of CGI is that children come to school with mathematical knowledge. Children develop their math understanding by solving a variety of problems in a way that makes sense to them. The children build their own understanding and inform other children, and the teacher, as they share their thinking. As a result, children build connections and relationships among the mathematical ideas so that the math makes sense to them, and the math is meaningful in their lives.