Pre-course Reading - Chapter One and Two

Dear Parents,

To learn and teach Mathematics to children in the 21st Century, we have to understand our personal beliefs and perceptions.  It is no longer about drilling and doing numerous mathematics exercises through assessment books and homework.

It is through the five processes that are essential components of learning and teaching mathematics:

• Problem Solving – build new mathematical knowledge through problem solving
• Reasoning and Proof – develop and evaluate mathematical arguments and proofs
• Communication – talk about, write about, describe, and explain mathematical ideas to peers, teachers and others
• Connections – recognize and use connections among mathematical ideas, apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics
• Representation – create and use representations (graphs, symbols, charts, manipulative, diagrams) to express mathematical ideas and relationships

Through these processes, the benefits of relational understanding is rewarding and necessary:

• Effective learning of new concepts and procedures – actively building  their existing knowledge
• Less to remember -  information are stored and recall as single entities
• Increased retention and recall – able to retrieve ideas through reflection of ideas that are related
• Enhanced problem-solving abilities – better understanding of relationship between a situation and a context enable use of a particular approach to solve a problem
• Improved attitudes and beliefs – positive self-concept and confidence in his/her ability to learn and understand Mathematics. “I can do this! I understand!”

With this, it’s a departure from drilling methods, assessment books and homework. 

Let’s make learning Mathematics fun and interesting!