As the 2015-2016 school year began, we shared this perspective on math instruction with all of our Middle School parents. It says well what we believe about mathematics education:
"One of our hopes for students this year is that they will develop the habit of engaging fully. The middle school faculty will spend time considering what this means for students. What does it look like during their school day? What does it mean as they grow in their academic lives? How can the faculty foster the habit of engaging fully?
Two of my favorite experts in math education address the issue of engagement:
"There are two versions of math in the lives of many Americans: the strange and boring subject that they encountered in classrooms and an interesting set of ideas that is the math of the world, and is curiously different and surprisingly engaging. Our task is to introduce this second version to today's students, get them excited about math, and prepare them for the future."
What's Math Got To Do With It?
by Jo Boaler, Professor, Stanford Graduate School of Education
"Mathematics is the art of explanation. If you deny students the opportunity to engage in this activity -- to pose their own problems, to make their own conjectures and discoveries, to be wrong, to be creatively frustrated, to have an inspiration, and to cobble together their own explanations and proofs -- you deny them mathematics itself. So no, I'm not complaining about the presence of facts and formulas in our mathematics classes, I'm complaining about the lack of mathematics in our mathematics classes."
A Mathematician's Lament
Paul Lockhart, Saint Ann's School, Brooklyn, NY (Ph.D. Columbia University)
Clearly Boaler and Lockhart believe that mathematics -- real mathematics -- is inherently engaging. Mustard Seed School teachers believe that as well. We need to be sure that we imbue all of our mathematics instruction with the richness that Lockhart describes. Our students should be busy posing problems, making conjectures, looking for patterns, making mistakes, critiquing their own work and the work of others, discussing ideas, drawing pictures. There should be many aha! moments.
Of course, our students need to be fluent and efficient in calculations. They need to be confident of procedures. They need speed and accuracy in recall of math facts. But all of this work should be full of real mathematics as well: Why does this procedure work? Is there another algorithm that is easier? Is it important how I line up the digits? Why do we write that number that way? Is the zero important?
We seek this kind of interest and engagement every day. Beyond this, we seek to provide rich, profound mathematical experiences for children through the I Love Math activities and eighth grade exhibitions. These parts of the curriculum are specifically designed to help students explore middle school topics in creative and unusual ways. They are designed to prompt mathematical thought and discourse, and develop habits of mind that will serve students for a lifetime."
