Math

At D39C we use inquiry, intuition, and problem solving skills to analyze and discuss math situations in a collaborative environment. We learn together and believe that all children can excel in math, have the potential to grow their brain, and that every learning experience can change the child’s ability. Our goal is to encourage each learner to establish a growth mindset so we can eliminate the “always in the air” stereotypes and negativity towards math. We hope and expect students to make mistakes because we feel success is in the doing, and failures should be celebrated and analyzed. As inquirers of math knowledge, we will not just focus on answers, rather, we focus on the the process and the learning that goes into solving real world problems.

Google Presentation

"The objective of good math teaching should not be to "cover the curriculum" but to show students how to explore our fascinating and beautiful world through the lens of mathematics. We must change our focus in math education from a focus on a largely irrelevant and uninteresting set of learning objectives to a focus on making math relevant and engaging for students." -- David Wees

Fixed Vs. Growth Mindset:

"No matter the ability--whether it's intelligence, creativity, self-control, charm, or athleticism--studies show them to be profoundly malleable. When it comes to mastering any skill, your experience, effort, and persistence matter a lot...it's time to toss out your (mistaken) belief about how ability works, embrace the fact that you can always improve, and reclaim the confidence to tackle any challenge that you lost so long ago." -- Heidi Grant Halvorson in The Trouble With Bright Girls

--Einstein

" People who have an inquiry relationship...display courage. Courage to think..and what's significant to me is that they're talking about math's use, not in

terms of knowledge they use. It's about being curious: making conjectures, not worrying about uncertainty or mistakes. It's about using intuition. It's about approaching maths as a world of exciting inquiry.

And being confident that you can solve any problem.

That relationship is to do with maths knowledge, it isn't unrelated but it is

something very different from knowledge. Lots of people have a lot of maths knowledge without that relationship. Some people, particularly young children, have that relationship without any or much maths knowledge.

And I strongly contend that an inquiry relationship with maths is what is needed."

-- Jo Boaler, Stanford

"Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas."

The Norms in Math at D39C:

  • We love and value mistakes in the math environment.

  • We solve problems that are open and challenging.

  • We encourage collaboration, discussion, and student voice.

  • We make sense of all problems.

  • We dissociate math from speed.

  • We allow and encourage students to solve and represent problems in many different ways.

  • We have clear learning goals and constantly provide feedback to each other.

  • We understand that we can use intuition to solve problems and make sense of numbers.

  • We add color to a currently black-and-white math landscape.

  • We know math is a subject that allows for creativity.

Mathematical Principles:

1. Mix a graphical, numerical, verbal, and algebraic approach ("rule of four")

2. Motivate by practical problems ("the way of Archimedes").

3. Choose topics which interact with other disciplines.

4. Formulate open ended word problems.

5. Discourage the mimic template techniques.

6. Use technology to visualize concepts.

7. Prefer plain English over formal descriptions.

*taken from the "Harvard Consortium Calculus"

Math links for further research: