Philosophy of Teaching Mathematics
Mathematics requires active involvement from the students. Experiencing mathematics in a collaborative manner will help the students engage in their learning. By exploring various concepts with the support of their peers students can develop critical thinking and problem solving skills.
It is important to remember that understanding concrete knowledge is critical when applying mathematics abstractly. Mathematical concepts are constantly referencing back to previously learned material, as the students advance academically. Manipulatives provide students with the opportunity to build concrete knowledge using scaffolding. For example, students can use base-tens blocks to factor expressions in a visual and hands-on manner. Through the use of scaffolding, students will develop confidence in working with factoring and eventually cease using physical tools to assist them.
Incorporating methods such as direct instruction, inquiry-based learning, and cooperative learning will enable students to obtain the individualize instruction they require. Teachers can employ the various learning models to foster communication of mathematical language. For example, during group and individual presentations the students will be instructed to justify their conclusions of scenarios through the use of academic terminology. In order to discover the solution, they may be required to connect the information in the scenario to information they learned in previous years. Actively making connections between prior concepts will allow students to construct their own knowledge through the use of questioning. In the real word people require knowledge of mathematics to complete specific jobs. For example, scientists are obliged to use statistics to support their hypothesis. Therefore, real-life applications will allow them to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills.
Equipping students with technology will allow differentiation to emphasize the importance of thinking critically and solving problems. For example, in Geogebra the students can program an animation of a three dimensional figure to represent the volume of the solid, based on specific restrictions. As a mathematics educator I must embrace the students’ strengths and weaknesses in order to design activities that are flexible and encourage the students to grow mathematically. As Albert Einstein once said, “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.”
It is important to remember that understanding concrete knowledge is critical when applying mathematics abstractly. Mathematical concepts are constantly referencing back to previously learned material, as the students advance academically. Manipulatives provide students with the opportunity to build concrete knowledge using scaffolding. For example, students can use base-tens blocks to factor expressions in a visual and hands-on manner. Through the use of scaffolding, students will develop confidence in working with factoring and eventually cease using physical tools to assist them.
Incorporating methods such as direct instruction, inquiry-based learning, and cooperative learning will enable students to obtain the individualize instruction they require. Teachers can employ the various learning models to foster communication of mathematical language. For example, during group and individual presentations the students will be instructed to justify their conclusions of scenarios through the use of academic terminology. In order to discover the solution, they may be required to connect the information in the scenario to information they learned in previous years. Actively making connections between prior concepts will allow students to construct their own knowledge through the use of questioning. In the real word people require knowledge of mathematics to complete specific jobs. For example, scientists are obliged to use statistics to support their hypothesis. Therefore, real-life applications will allow them to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills.
Equipping students with technology will allow differentiation to emphasize the importance of thinking critically and solving problems. For example, in Geogebra the students can program an animation of a three dimensional figure to represent the volume of the solid, based on specific restrictions. As a mathematics educator I must embrace the students’ strengths and weaknesses in order to design activities that are flexible and encourage the students to grow mathematically. As Albert Einstein once said, “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.”