Meeting the Challenges of Diversity and Relevance

1995 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 442-449
Author(s):  
Margaret Schwan Smith ◽  
Edward A. Silver
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Mathematics Achievement ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Mathematics Classroom ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Primary Language ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
Classroom Diversity ◽  
Current Reform

Current reform efforts have emphasized the need to change the way that mathematics is taught and learned so that all students have access to a mathematics education rich in opportunities for thinking, reasoning, and problem solving. Reaching all students may not be easy, however, since students in a mathematics classroom may be considerably diverse, not only with respect to prior mathematics achievement but also with respect to ethnicity, language, and life expelience. The challenge is even greater because teachers often do not share the ethnicity, primary language, or life experiences of the children they teach. The Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM 1989) and the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM 1991) urge teachers to consider classroom diversity by-

Assessment: Describing Student Performance Qualitatively

1996 ◽  
Vol 1 (10) ◽  
pp. 828-835
Author(s):  
Jinfa Cai ◽  
Maria E. Magone ◽  
Ning Wang ◽  
Suzanne Lane
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Education ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
National Council ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
Reasoning Problem ◽  
Mathematics Educators

The issue of linking testing with instructional practice is not new. In recent years, mathematics educators have been redefining the goals of mathematics education to include increased attention to problem solving and reasoning. For example, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989) and Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (1991) and the National Research Council's Everybody Counts (1989) suggest an emphasis on reasoning, problem solving, conceptual understanding, and communicating mathematically.

Do the Standards Go Far Enough? Power, Policy, and Practice in Mathematics Education

1992 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 412-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Apple
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Education ◽  
Educational Reform ◽  
Mathematical Knowledge ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Conservative Movement ◽  
Evaluation Standards

Although NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989) and Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (1991) are generating considerable interest, there has been little discussion of their ideological and social grounding and effects. By placing the Standards within the growing conservative movement in education, this paper raises a number of crucial issues about the documents, including the depth of the financial crisis in education and its economic and ideological genesis and results; the nature of inequality in schools; the role of mathematical knowledge in our economy in maintaining these inequalities; the possibilities and limitations of a mathematics curriculum that is more grounded in students' experiences; and the complicated realities of teachers' lives. Without a deeper understanding of these issues, the Standards will be used in ways that largely lend support only to the conservative agenda for educational reform.

Animating Geometry with Flexigons

1994 ◽  
Vol 87 (8) ◽  
pp. 602-606
Author(s):  
Ruth McClintock
Keyword(s):  
Language Skills ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Physical Models ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Mathematical Concepts ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
Grade Levels ◽  
Conversation Piece

Viewing mathematics as communication is the second standard listed for all grade levels in the NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989). This emphasis underscores the need for nurturing language skills that enable children to translate nonverbal awareness into words. One way to initiate discussion about mathematical concepts is to use physical models and manipulatives. Standard 4 of the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM 1991) addresses the need for tools to enhance discourse. The flexigon is a simple and inexpensive conversation piece that helps students make geometric discoveries and find language to share their ideas.

Professional Development: Teachers' Communication and Collaboration Keys to Student Achievement

1995 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 454-458
Author(s):  
Helene J. Sherman ◽  
Thomas Jaeger
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Student Achievement ◽  
Educational Reform ◽  
Mathematics Teaching ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Professional Satisfaction ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
Instructional Changes

The curriculum and evaluation standards for School Mathematics (NCTM 1989) and the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM 1991) have served as both stimuli for, and responses to, numerous formal and informal programs, conferences, and conversations calling for educational reform and improvement in mathematics teaching. After all the plans are drawn and all the objectives are written, however, reform is most likely to occur and make a lasting difference when teachers are aware of the need for improvement, have a voice in planning it, and derive a real sense of professional satisfaction from implementing the instructional changes.

Interpreting the Standards: Translating Principles into Practice

1997 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 202-205
Author(s):  
Deborah E. Schifter ◽  
Deborah Carey O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
School Mathematics ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Mathematical Concepts ◽  
Mathematics Pedagogy ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Evaluation Standards

Since the publication of the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM 1989) and the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM 1991). such phrases as “mathematics should be taught for understanding.” “teachers should facilitate the construction of mathematical concepts,” and “classrooms should be student centered” have become identified with a reformed mathematics pedagogy.

Implementing the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics: Sharing, Supporting, Risk Taking: First Steps to Instructional Reform

1992 ◽  
Vol 85 (6) ◽  
pp. 466-470
Author(s):  
Steven J. Leinwand
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Curriculum Standards ◽  
Instructional Reform ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
Teaching Standards

For many of us, the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM 1991) represents a much scarier and much more intimidating vision of school mathematics than its predecessor, the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM 1989). Accordingly, implementing the teaching standards will require different strategies from those being used or proposed to implement the curriculum standards.

Implementing the “Curriculum and Evaluation Standards”: Recognizing and Recording Reform in Mathematics: New Questions, Many Answers

1994 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 190-193
Author(s):  
Joan Ferrini-Mundy ◽  
Loren Johnson ◽  
James R. Smart
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Education ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Anecdotal Evidence ◽  
Reform Effort ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
Curriculum And Pedagogy ◽  
Standards Documents

NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989) and its Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (1991) lend possible direction and meaning to the reform effort in mathematics education that is sweeping the country. The documents have been widely disseminated and discussed, and anecdotal evidence indicates that teachers of mathematics are seeking ways to enact the ideas contained in the standards documents. These documents are also inspiring the development of standards in other disciplines. But a number of questions are being raised as schools, districts, states, and provinces attempt to incorporate these Standards in changing their curriculum and pedagogy.

Systematizing Trial and Error Using Spreadsheets

1992 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 8-12
Author(s):  
Richard J. Sgroi
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Cooperative Learning ◽  
Mathematics Classroom ◽  
Work Force ◽  
Analytical Tool ◽  
First Century ◽  
National Council ◽  
Trial And Error ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
Programming Skills

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, in its document Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989), places emphasis on the roles of problem solving and technology in the mathematics classroom. The marriage of problem solving and instructional technology in a cooperative-learning setting can be critical to the development of a skilled twenty-first-century work force. Students should be prepared for a future in which the computer is used as an analytical tool rather than merely a vehicle to test the accuracy of programming skills and for solving simplistic problems using long and complicated numerical values.

Implementing the “Professional Standards For Teaching Mathematics”: Questioning in the Mathematics Classroom

1993 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Nesbitt Vacc
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Mathematics Classroom ◽  
Current Level ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Active Engagement ◽  
Methods Courses ◽  
Beliefs About Mathematics ◽  
Great Sense ◽  
Level Of Understanding

For many of us, implementing the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM 1991) in our classrooms makes great sense. It is clearly reasonable that if students are to develop an understanding of and an ability to use mathematical applications in a variety of contexts (NCTM 1989). they should have meaningful and relevant experiences that will actively engage them in constructing their own knowledge. Also, that active engagement needs to be accompanied by opportunities for students to talk about what they already know and don't know and what they are doing as they strive to extend or change their current level of understanding. For many teachers, however. offering this type of instruction means changing their beliefs about mathematics instruction. After all, most of us are products of elementary and secondary school classrooms in which the teachers told us what we needed to know or do and we listened to and did what they told us to do. What we were thinking about during this interaction often did not matter, and we were unaware that it should. This same type of discourse existed in many of our methods courses. The instructor spent most of the class telling us what we needed to know so that we could tell our future students what they needed to know. Fortunately, we have come to the realization that this style of teaching is not as effective as once thought, and consequently we need to change what we are doing. However, how we go about making needed changes in our teaching is unclear.

Soundoff: Make Room for Dancing

1995 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-7
Author(s):  
Larry E. Askins
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Education ◽  
Mathematics Teachers ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
Clear Vision

As mathematics teachers, we are eager for an optimistic view of what our classrooms can become during this decade and beyond. I believe that NCTM's Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (1991) and Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989) present a clear vision for making mathematics education successful in the 1990s. However, the documents mean nothing if individual teachers fail to take deliberate steps toward realizing that vision.

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