Sunday, October 25, 2015

Reflection on Battleground Schools: Mathematics Education

Reform movements in mathematics education have constantly emerged over the past 100 years in North America. In the early 1900s, the progressivist views of the mathematics education changed the way mathematics had been taught in class. According to John Dewey, mathematics is more than just getting correct answers. Rather, it is about thinking deeply as part of inquiry learning, which makes students question why they use particular procedures and how they get answers to the  problems. However, the New Math curriculum was introduced in 1960s, but it failed eventually since new math topics were not ideal for K-12 students as many teachers and parents did not understand why new topics including university mathematics were taught. Then, NCTM standards were introduced in 1990s. Indeed, if there is any better way to help students learn better, I believe that new education movement should be developed. As a future math teacher, I understand that I should be a progressivist. Not just delivering math lessons, I should make sure that I motivate students to wonder about learning, which they could link to real life situations. Moreover, I should be able to adjust/ implement instructional strategies/ pedagogy to cope with the new curriculum. Although I have to follow curriculum, instead of having to cover many topics in a given time, it will be better if I can help students understand less materials more in depth. 

No comments:

Post a Comment