Teach Middle East Magazine Jan - Mar 2020 Issue 2 Volume 7 | Page 40

Sharing Good Practice
WHAT DOES BEING GOOD AT
MATHEMATICS REALLY MEAN?
BY: CORY A. BENNETT
W
hen most people think
of someone who is
good at Mathematics,
someone
who
has
"mastery" skills, there are three attributes
that often come to mind: 1) Speed, 2)
accuracy, and 3) memorization. For
many people, someone who is good at
Mathematics can perform calculations
quickly because they either have
specific facts or formulas memorized.
Then they get correct solutions
seemingly all the time. These three
traits are mastery myths..
As professional educators, be you
a primary teacher, a secondary
Mathematics teacher, or a teacher
leader (including heads of school,
curriculum directors, or academic
coaches); the question then becomes
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Term 2 Jan - Mar 2020
"what does it mean to be good at
Mathematics" and then "How do we
support teachers, so students develop
mastery in Mathematics?" First, let's
look at what it means to be good at
Mathematics. Thus, demonstrating mathematical
mastery requires persistence through
productive struggle, a strong sense
of creativity and flexibility, and then
building off of mistakes and errors in
productive ways.
Being Good at Mathematics Notice how the three myths above do
not support mastery in Mathematics.
The process of developing mastery in
Mathematics does not require speed
as it is the connections and sense-
making that matters. Additionally,
initial accuracy is far less critical
(answers do matter, but they are the
last thing that matters) as to how we
logically structure our thinking, matters
more. And finally, through this process,
conceptual understanding takes root
(not the quick recall or memorization
of formulas), which allows students
Mathematics is the study of pattern
and order. This means that when we
explore relationships or contexts that
require Mathematics, we are looking
for how things make sense. For things
to make sense, we need to create an
"argument" upon logic and reasoning
that progresses to a sound conclusion.
But as is often the case in Mathematics,
we initially struggle to understand and
frequently make errors; any worthy
problem will fight back in this manner.
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