Sharing Good Practice
WHY DO WE REALLY NEED TO LEARN
MATHEMATICS?
BY MAARIT ROSSI
and explain further if the students
are having difficulties. At the end of
the lesson the teacher gives some
homework. And this repeats day after
day and year after year.
Updating our methodology
In PISA (2016), students were asked
about the frequency with which
their teachers use student-oriented
versus teacher-directed strategies in
their lessons. Findings indicate that
today, teacher-directed practices are
used widely. Across OECD countries,
eight out of ten students reported
that their teachers tell them what
they have to learn in every lesson,
and seven out of ten students have
teachers who ask questions in
every lesson to check that students
understand what they’re learning.
I
am quite sure that every teacher
of mathematics at some point
in their career have had their
students question the relevance of
mathematics to their everyday lives.
Actually, it is not a strange question if
you think of some of the mathematics,
students have to study while in school.
Have you ever counted the number
of lessons students spend learning
mathematics in the most abstract
way? Now count up the amount of
mathematics lessons a student has in a
day, week, month, year and over their
school career. imagine sitting in rows
learning some abstract mathematical
concepts, that has no immediate
bearing on your life. Would you be
enthused about your learning? The
typical mathematics lesson goes
something like this; teacher comes
into the classroom and the first order
of business is to check the homework
from the previous lesson. After that,
the teacher introduces the new content
by doing some examples on the board,
followed by giving the students some
questions to answer, normally on a
worksheet or from a textbook. The
teacher may then check the work
Today being “good at school”
means for too many students
knowing how to play the game of
school. Mathematics lessons are
predominately made up of teachers
holding the students’ hands and
telling them step-by-step what to
do. We all know that students are
motivated by what interests them.
Asking questions and giving them
space and time to find the answers is
a good way to motivate them. But it
is not enough. We have to show them
where Math is used around them.
We have to give them possibilities
to discover and find solutions to
different kinds of problems. They
have to be given the opportunity
to work together and discover the
power of teamwork.
Here is one example of how to
effectively combine theory with
practice. Bring different amounts of
different objects; like paper clips,
nails, macaroni, beans, cord etc. to
the classroom. Then put the objects
on different numbered desks, let
the students circulate and estimate
the amounts without touching the
objects. They make marks on their
estimation tables and round the
amounts to tens, hundreds and
thousands. All the members in the
group have to come to a similar
understanding about the estimated
amounts.
Secondly let the students count
the objects they just estimated in
groups. Now they have a situation
where they have to negotiate to find
a sensible way of doing that. This is a
very simple way to create a situation
where students have to practice co-
operation, negotiation skills. After
counting, ask the groups to write
down the exact amounts and practice
rounding again to the nearest ten or
hundred. Very often the students
notice that the estimated numbers
are often too small. They also notice
that the estimated rounding and the
rounding of the exact amount can
give them the same result. Students
have fun and they think that Math can
be meaningful.
Combining theory with
practice
Rounding is often taught as a discrete
function, with rules dictating when to
round up or down, mostly connected
to shopping. Measuring, if taught, is
often connected to length, area and
volume measurements. Estimation is
probably missing from the books!
Mrs. Rossi is a Math teacher, principal and CEO of Paths to Math Ltd. She was
one of the top 10 finalists in Global Teacher Prize 2016. She is one of the Top
Teacher Bloggers in The Global Search for Education by C M Rubin. Twitter: @
pathstomath & www.pathstomath.com
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