Search All of the Math Forum:
Views expressed in these public forums are not endorsed by
Drexel University or The Math Forum.
|
|
|
|
Re: where's the math? so? (was Re: 5th Grade Activity)
Posted:
Apr 20, 1995 12:54 PM
|
|
Ted Alper <alper@Ockham.Stanford.EDU> writes:
>Why is it important to teach that mathematics is a growing body of
>knowledge? I mean, it's certainly true, and it is better to
>be aware of the wide world than not -- but how much attention should be
>paid to this in an 8th grade math class? <etc.>
This is not just a "fact" to be conveyed to students. It is a mindset, a
way of looking at the study of mathematics. Mathematics is not something
dead people who lived years ago did. Mathematics is a continuing creative
enterprise of developing knowledge done by people who are LIVING.
Mathematicians do this for a living; we share in that enterprise as we make
sense of the mathematics we are studying, no matter what level that may be.
Too often students see mathematics as a body of knowledge to be assimilated
(a product). To me, seeing mathematics as an exciting and worthwhile
activity (a process) is at the very heart of the Standards.
Gary
============================================================
W. Gary Martin 1776 University Ave.
University of Hawaii Honolulu, HI 96822
Curriculum R & D Group (808)956-9956; FAX (808)956-4984
|
|
|
|
