Mathematics with New Eyes

Elsie Lim Swee Peng

BSC 05- EDU 330- Elementary Math

Chapter Reflections

Chapter One

As I read chapter one, I couldn’t help reflecting how I learnt Math when I was young child.  My earliest recollection was being flashed cards with the 1 to 10 by my mother and through Rote Counting. Making sense of the numerals only came a lot later. Pre-math skills of sorting, patterning, grouping was never purposefully taught. It was through play with older siblings that such skills were acquired.

Having taught pre-school for more than 10 years, I understand and fully support the importance of having children learn Math concepts through play and activities. In the “Principals and Standards for School Mathematics”, under “teaching principals”, I totally agree that it is pertinent that as teachers, we understand fully how children learn mathematics, and select instructional tasks and strategies that will enhance learning.

Math through Play

When children are engaged in play, they tend to solve problems that are challenging but not totally beyond their capacities. As children play, challenges will surface and this often will result in problem solving.  I advocate play is an important and powerful tool to enhance learning. In addition, children who play together tend to grapple with the same problem, they often come up with different ideas or approaches, discuss various strategies, and learn from one another. These aspects of play can promote thinking and learning in mathematics as well as in other areas. Teachers can enhance children's learning of mathematics when they ask questions that provoke questions, extensions, and development of new understandings.

The Five Process Standards

Teachers need to fully understand and the five process standard in order to teach math well. I strongly believe that “mathematics should be connected to the real world and to other disciplines” so that children can relate to and learn to make connections to their daily lives.

Here is an example of a child (3 years 7 months old) thinking and trying to make connections. The children were asked by the teacher to help put away the few pieces of floor puzzles left on the floor. There were three children and four puzzles left to be put away. 

Teacher: “Quickly, let’s each put one piece of puzzle away in the box and we are done.”

Child: “But Ms Michelle, there are four puzzles left and only three of us here?”

Teacher: O yes you are right, then I will put one away too, and then we are done!

Chapter Two

“Mathematics is more than completing sets of exercises or mimicking processes the teacher explains. Doing mathematics means generating strategies for solving problems, applying those approaches, seeing if they lead to solutions, and checking to see if your answers make sense. Doing mathematics in the classrooms should closely model the act of doing mathematics in the real world.”

When I was in school about 20 years ago, I like many others, learnt to do math through many worksheets and workbooks. Remembering formulas and times-tables and regurgitating it. I was not asked to make connections to our daily lives. Doing Math for me became a chore. When I struggled at understanding certain concepts, I was not given concrete examples or manipulatives to help me understand but instead given more worksheets to practice! Now, my daughter who is in Primary One this year is given hands on experiences with counters and other manipulatives to help her understand concepts that may be abstract to her. Games are also played in class to help the children understand and grasp certain concepts better. I am really happy that MOE has reviewed their curriculum and am hopeful that my daughter will enjoy her Math lessons more than I ever did in school.

Implications for Teaching Mathematics

- Build Knowledge from prior knowledge

- Provide opportunities to talk about Math

- Build in opportunities for reflective thought

- Encourage multiple approaches

- Treat errors as opportunities for learning

-Scaffold new content

- Honour diversity

This segment in this chapter is empowering. To me it is not only relevant to teaching Math but also other subjects as well.

In spite of my lack of good experiences and poor results in Math, I am looking forward to approaching Mathematics with “New Eyes”.  Reading this book has given me hope that even though I did not score well in Math, I can be a good Math teacher and will try my very best to make Math come alive for the children that I teach using the new ideas, attitudes and skills I will learn in this module.