Mathematics Philosophy

Knowing mathematics means being able to use it in purposeful ways. It is the responsibility of the classroom teacher to help children view mathematics as a practical and useful tool to be used in a wide variety of real world situations. Children must engage in exploring, conjecturing, and reasoning, instead of simply engaging in rote learning of rules and procedures, so that this attitude about mathematics can be realized.

Children are active individuals who construct, modify, and integrate ideas by interacting with the physical world, materials, and other children; therefore, emphasis should be placed on the development of mathematical understandings that capitalize on these natural inclinations. When children construct their own knowledge from meaningful experiences, they are much more likely to connect these ideas to understandings they bring with them and to retain and use what they have learned. Thoughtful and creative use of instructional resources such as manipulatives, calculators, and computers allow children to explore number ideas and patterns. These valuable concept-development experiences will allow students to focus on problem solving processes while learning mathematical content.

Classroom environments that encourage every child to explore, develop, test, discuss, and apply mathematical ideas will insure that all students possess adequate mathematical understandings to be productive citizens in the next century.
 

Mathematics is a changing body of knowledge rather than a set of rules to be learned and practiced. Students come to elementary school with a sense of mathematics because they have been using it to solve problems. The role in elementary and secondary schools is to capitalize and build on this understanding as more abstract concepts are taught. Teachers must help students construct meaning and a sense of mathematics by approaching mathematics as problem solving.

Learning is an active process where a student gathers, discovers, or creates knowledge through a purposeful activity. An integral part of this learning process is the use of concrete models and manipulatives to learn concepts.

Technology will require educators to continually redefine mathematics content and instruction. The calculator and the computer are changing some aspects of mathematics because they are making some mathematics less important, some mathematics more important, and some mathematics possible.

Mathematics can be learned by all students. Since it is a critical prerequisite for employment and participation in our society, equal access to mathematics is a necessity. Mathematically talented students with encouragement and a firm foundation will be those who discover new math application. All students must be given a chance to learn mathematics in a way that makes sense for they will be the users of mathematics in their careers and in their daily lives.