Blog #3: Mathematics in the Classroom

 Hello everyone and welcome to blog post number 3! 

    This week, the focus was on mathematics in the classroom! As a future math teacher, I have so much to reflect about! A very prominent topic was how math can be taught and the implications for what is taught (Davis et al., 2019). When teaching math, the focus seems to be on the formulas and the final answers. It has been structured around the assumption that math is trapped in a box of logical reasoning (Davis et al., 2019). Math is so much more than calculations and answers, it is problem solving and higher order thinking, it is thinking outside of the box! 

    During this week's session, the class was divided into groups and had to solve two different math problems. One was a problem related to volume and the other was problem that related to missing variables. After everyone had some time to come up with different strategies, there was a discussion on which way the problem was solved. This surprised me! As someone who has a 'math brain', my first strategies were always formula and number based. What I also found interesting was my group thought in similar ways that I did, which made working together easier. The first problem was the following: If you use 84 blocks to create a rectangular prism, which one would have the smallest surface area? My group put together different methods that could be used to solve the given problem. I would like to note that the first thing we did was use our knowledge of perfect squares and cube roots to eliminate the possibility of a cube being the answer. This seemed like the most logical solution being that the shape was 'condensed'.

    The second problem involved figuring out the values of each letter in a puzzle. Our group immediately started with the value for 'T' as we knew that it must be a one because of 'place value' rules and 'carrying over' in addition. Although we did not get to fully solve this problem, it showed us a lot about math education. 

    This brief overview of this very fun activity leads into my discussion about the 'Math Wars'. This connects to the main point of this blog about how math can be taught. 'Math Wars' describes the war between the 'traditional' focus on procedural competence and the reform point of view of conceptual understanding (Davis et al., 2019). That sounds complicated! To make things simple, the 'Math Wars' focuses on the idea that the traditional math curriculum was designed to meet the needs of a society in the early stages of industrialization (Davis et al., 2019). So how should math be taught in today's classrooms? Should children be taught in a direct manner regarding math? These are a few of the question that come to mind after thinking of the 'Math Wars'. 

    As a future teacher, I hope to create a classroom that allows students to use different strategies to solve math problems, just as we all did in the group activities. Students need to be encouraged to think outside the box and look at problems from all angles to develop problem solving skills. 

References 

Davis, B., Francis, K., & Friesen, S. (2019). STEM Education by Design Opening Horizons of                         Possibility. Routledge.