Mathematics Teaching in Primary - Essay Example

Mathematics Teaching in Primary 1. Introduction In the past, the typical depiction of mathematics is that it is in relation to doing pencil-and-paper calculations. However, current reforms in mathematics education has changed it and it is now focuses on thinking and working mathematically in a way that mathematics becomes”a way of seeing and acting in the world, rather than an activity in and of itself“(Zevenbergen 2004, p.107). Modern-day methods to mathematics education hearten students to reflect mathematically and utilize mathematics to solve problems and tasks in a way that is coherent and based on mathematical principles. Students must perceive the significance and value of mathematics to real world situations thus realistic examples to mathematics is being adopted in teaching. The contribution of mathematics in past scientific and technological achievements, and the universal recognition that mathematical methods are essential to the solution of all sorts of problems have equitably enhanced the value of mathematics teaching (Cornelius 1982, p.2). Today, aside from knowing the significance of mathematics, children are growing with technology and accustomed to numerous sources of information input. Students acknowledge that their attitude towards learning have been shaped by the wider social conditions thus conventional style of teaching and learning need to consider these changed conditions. It is because they need to develop mathematical ways of seeing and interpreting the world, develop strong problem solving skills, and disposition towards using mathematics to solve the problems they confront. Old models of teaching need to embrace pedagogies that will cater for diversity within a classroom otherwise students may develop unenthusiastic feelings and misleading learning about mathematics (Bennion 2007, p.22). Contemporary emphasis in high-quality teaching requires teachers to be reflective about their teaching (Holton 2001, p.459). This is because rationally, if teacher change is to become a reality, there must be a sense that transformation can affect learning in a way that the conventional methods of teaching cannot. Reflective teaching demands that a teacher examine from a critical perspective what is and to consider what might be because according to Holton (2001), it will allow one to perceive mathematics and its teaching and learning as challenging. Rather than contemplating students’ answers as right or wrong, reflective thinking encourage an individual to question what kind of thinking resulted in a particular response. Thus, reflective teaching do not consider mathematics as a predetermined body of knowledge but a challenging situation that require progressing beyond technical knowledge toward the practice of making judgements and decisions (p.460). 2. Key Principles and Ideas Teaching in general according to Bennion (2007) is the process of training an individual through re-structuring of behaviour, the acquirement of knowledge, the introduction of principles, and the fixing of permanent interests so that he shall become a clean, intelligent, self-supporting member of society, who has the power to govern himself, can partake in decent enjoyments, and has the aspiration and the audacity to respect God and serve his colleagues (p.21). For this reason, it is a teacher’s mission to make changes for the better in the skills, behaviour and mind-set of his or her students since such virtues is particularly important to the pursuit of knowledge that relate to man as a person or as a member of human society. A teacher’s skill should be appraised reasonably in terms of his or her success at these tasks and not by the attire he or she wears or the way he or she selects but by the outcome of his or her work (Dickinson 2008, p.5). One central point to think about in any level of education is that the study and practice of education are not detached or isolated actions. This is because all endeavours to evaluate teaching and learning, making proposition for policy and practice, and engage in teaching itself are affected by values and beliefs (McNamara 1994, p.2). For example, teacher’s interest for subjects such as the relationships between schools and society, the content of the curriculum, or the arrangement of the classroom are opinionated by their values and feelings and what teachers believed education is for and about. Moreover, teaching and learning in classrooms are of deep importance to politicians, parents, educationists, and others who have a genuine and vested interest in children’s education. More importantly, teachers are aggressively engage in the advancement of knowledge because they are accountable for children’s learning and they consider that there should be different parties in any discourse relating to the conduct of teaching and learning in the classroom (McNamara 1994, p.165). Teaching necessitates an immeasurable amount of knowledge and teachers have to be familiar with pedagogy and must be skilled in their subject areas. However, this vast body of knowledge can engulf a teacher thus a system for arranging the information is essential. A good teacher knows how to systematize their teaching knowledge into evocative models and from these models build strategic instructional principles (Jackson 2009, p.4). In many studies about how people learn, the key finding in most them stresses the significance of students’ presumptions thus teachers must allow for not only of what students obviously do not know, but also of what they believe they know. This is because much of the disparities between what teachers teach and what students learn are attributable to the actuality the student’s connect new knowledge about the past to pre-existing but unsuitable knowledge learned from everyday life (Donovan & Bransford 2005, p.79). The principles that characterize the general philosophy for teaching and learning mathematics include ‘equity’ which means there should be high hopes and solid support for all students. Another is ‘curriculum’ which refers to having a cohesive curriculum that centres on essential mathematics, evidently expressed transversely on all grades. The curriculum principle is very essential as it validate the need to have all students learn important mathematics in a reliable way. ‘Effective teaching’ requires an understanding of what students know and what they should know and then challenging and supports them to learn it well. Similarly, it is important for teachers to use knowledge of their students, and of teaching and learning mathematics, in order to fittingly connect them in learning important mathematics. Finally, ‘assessment’ and ‘technology’ should support the learning of meaningful mathematics and be educational for both the student and the teacher. Technology can impact content as well as pedagogy and can augment the learning process (Spitzer & Roddick 2007, p.17). 3. Justification for Approach and Related Practices Teaching approaches diverged according to the age and capability of pupils, the subject being taught, the inadequacy of the physical environment, and the pedagogical inclination of the teacher (Tanner & Jones 2000, p.131). A reflective teacher therefore should make own professional decisions and may approach every lesson differently. Mathematics is commonly considered a social activity thus students should construct and discuss mathematical understandings jointly as it is by means of sharing and analysis of mathematical meanings that students learn to become mathematical thinkers (Preston & Johnson 2002, p.12). The various strategic decisions that any teacher has to make include decisions how manage of the learning environment effectively. This organization strategy is mainly focussed towards ensuring that each pupil is given the maximum opportunity for learning. It is about decisions such as whether to teach the class as whole or whether to organize group work or to provide for individualized instruction. For example, when groups are used then there are decisions involving their composition such as their size, balance between sexes, mixed ability, and so forth and so on, the strategy is principally focussed in the direction of keeping control and constructing a well-organized working atmosphere (Dadds & Lofthouse 1990, p.16). Since the teacher’s main concern is motivation, they are bound to help learners manage intricacies in a manner that would help improve learning and deep understanding (Naidu 2005, p.16). In many areas of mathematics, awareness of fundamental principles is an important precondition for understanding (Haylock & Thangata 2007, p.143). The teacher therefore should spend time determining such key principles before trying to get students to master the procedures and methods that are supported by the principles. For example, when teaching students how to count, the process of counting is supported by a number of principles which students need to comprehend before they can be regarded as a student who truly understand how to count. High quality teaching is oral, interactive, and lively and it is not realized by just embracing a basic formula of ‘drill and practice’ and addressing the class, or by presuming pupils to educate themselves from books (Tanner & Jones 2000, p.128). It is therefore necessary that it should be a cooperative process where students are likely to play an active part by way of responding to questions, elucidating and demonstrating their methods to the class, and contributing points to discussion. Teaching ‘measurement’ is of central importance in teaching mathematics as it can help children perceive that mathematics is valuable in everyday life and could enable them to develop many mathematical concepts and skills (Zevenbergen et al. 2004, p.250). For example, when children reflect how they employ mathematics in the past, they will become aware that it is typically relative to measurement; like how far they had walked, amount of money they spent, how long its take to get home, how frequent they drink milk, and so on. Measurement tends to be the strand of mathematics that is regularly integrated in everyday life, thus giving a strong justification for its inclusion in mathematics teaching strategy. Moreover, it is often the strand most applicable to people’s live, although statistical literacy or chance and data is growing in importance due to wider changes in society that is filled with information. For this reason, measurement will be taught in a very practical manner to make it highly enjoyable for students. In addition, the measurement strand will be use for linking across other subject areas like the number strand to make teaching highly interactive. 4. Summary/Conclusion Mathematics is no longer about doing pencil-and-paper calculations since reforms in mathematics education has made mathematics a way of seeing and acting in our world. For this reason, the method of teaching mathematics in primary needs to reflect the reality of life and view mathematics as an environment where students and teachers can make judgements and decisions. There should be equity where expectations and support of students is strong and cohesive curriculum that focuses on important and relevant mathematics. Teachers had to make changes and recognise the importance of knowledge derived from everyday life. Although teaching approaches may vary, a teacher has to manage the learning environment effectively and ensure that learning is maximised. Teachers should spend time establishing key principles and make their class interactive and enjoyable. 5. Reference List Bennion A. S. (2007). Principles of Teaching. United Kingdom: BiblioBazaar, Cornelius M. (1982). Teaching mathematics. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis Dadds M. & Lofthouse B. (1990). The Study of Primary Education: Classrooms and teaching studies. United Kingdom: Routledge Dickinson J. W. (2008). Principles and Method of Teaching: Derived from a Knowledge of the Mind. United Kingdom: BiblioBazaar Donovan S. & Bransford J. (2005). How students learn: history, mathematics, and science in the classroom, United States of America: National Academies Press Haylock D. & Thangata F. (2007). Key Concepts in Teaching Primary Mathematics. United Kingdom: SAGE Holton D. A. (2001). The teaching and learning of mathematics at university level: an ICMI study. Netherlands: Springer Jackson R. R. (2009). Never Work Harder Than Your Students & Other Principles of Great Teaching. United States of America: ASCD McNamara D. (1994). Classroom pedagogy and primary practice. United Kingdom: Routledge Naidu S. (2005). Learning & teaching with technology: principles and practices. United Kingdom: Routledge Preston H. & Johnson D. (2002). Primary CAME Thinking Maths: The Lessons for the Primary Cognitive Acceleration in Mathematics Education (CAME) Project in Year 5 and Year 6 : Teacher's Guide. United Kingdom: Nelson Thornes Spitzer J. S. & Roddick C. D. (2007). Succeeding at Teaching Mathematics, K-6, United States of America: Corwin Press Tanner H. & Jones S. (2000). Becoming a successful teacher of mathematics. United States of America: Routledge Zevenbergen R. et al. (2004). Teaching mathematics in primary schools, Australia: Allen & Unwin Read More