Sobel, M.A. (May 2007). Something for everyone. Mathematics Teacher, 100(9), 584-587.
This article is written by the President of NCTM, and he is discussing his favorite article ever written in Mathematics Teacher. He starts by going through some of the his favorite articles he wrote. He hits some of the high points such as what is going right with mathematics through the years and what is decreasing in value. At the end of this article he makes the discovery that each new issue that comes out is his favorite. There is something for everyone in every issue, and he grows to love the new issue every time. He believes that as teachers read these articles they will find something each time that can benefit them as a math teacher.
As math teachers, we need to continue to learn. By reading the new research that is happening in mathematics education, we can learn new ideas to implement in our own classrooms. Our teaching style can never be perfect, but by continually searching for ways to improve we can get closer to perfect. Students will be able to tell if we are trying to find better ways to help them. Reading the Mathematics Teacher is one way to learn new ideas.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Assignment #6
D'Ambrosio B. S., Kastberg S. E., & Viola dos Santos J. R. (Mar 2010). Learning from student approaches to algebraic proofs. Mathematics Teacher, 103(7), 489-495.
Teachers need to help students understand the purpose of proofs and how to format their arguements. The authors spends most of this article examining student's proofs. They believe that by observing student's work we can find out what holes are in their understanding. They took 9 different examples from students and talked about how students simply aren't understanding how to put together a proof.
Students aren't being taught how to approach a proof in the correct way. From examining the nine different examples it is obvious that students aren't understanding the purpose of a proof and what they should be doing. I experienced this in my classes in high school and am still experiencing it in my current proofs class. Often what needs to be proved appears obvious to students, but this isn't the purpose of a proof. By examining how students appoach a proof, it will help teachers better understand how to fill in the holes of a student's knowledge.
Teachers need to help students understand the purpose of proofs and how to format their arguements. The authors spends most of this article examining student's proofs. They believe that by observing student's work we can find out what holes are in their understanding. They took 9 different examples from students and talked about how students simply aren't understanding how to put together a proof.
Students aren't being taught how to approach a proof in the correct way. From examining the nine different examples it is obvious that students aren't understanding the purpose of a proof and what they should be doing. I experienced this in my classes in high school and am still experiencing it in my current proofs class. Often what needs to be proved appears obvious to students, but this isn't the purpose of a proof. By examining how students appoach a proof, it will help teachers better understand how to fill in the holes of a student's knowledge.
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