-
Ten Commandments for
Mathematics Teachers
|
US, UK and Canadian Mathematics Curriculums, Etc
The UK link below includes all subjects and not just
mathematics. Course or curriculum discussions in one location
may and should influence discussions elsewhere. UK efforts are
well-written. The Quebec English curriculum for mathematics
identifies well the geometric requirements of upper high school
instruction.
UK Resources for Education
All Years, Most Subjects. The UK 1996-20000 National Curriculum
gives a detailed view of
English, Mathematics, Science, Design and technology,
Information and communication technology, History, Geography,
Modern foreign languages, Art and design, Music, Physical
education, Citizenship, and ???
The material is online in html format and in pdf files. The
html format is well-well organized.
The details of the mathematics curriculum offer a checklist or
attainment levels for what should be covered and when from
elementary school to the last years of high school. This site
should be explored for completeness if you are teaching one of
the subjects it mentions. Here is a reference for standards
or course design elsewhere. The treatment of history is notable
- British history no longer call Britain great. The absence of
that pretension is welcome. The UK experience in mathematics
is different from that of the US experience - how should be
determined if you are interested in mathematic course design. A
divergence was present in the 1960's. UK schools in then did
not emphasize the set theoretic, axiomatic development of
modern mathematics.
The UK mathematics curriculum for 1995 was very detailed
and mostly written in plain English with very few platitudes.
The 1995 version mentions that the study of the infinite in
mathematics gave the subject a spiritual value. One could
also say that mathematics has a great spiritual value as it
becomes a great mystery for most high school and college
graduates. Other than that I did not see the
spirituality.
US Resources for Education
The following links provide detailed checklists for skills and
ideas to be covered in mathematics and/or other subjects.
Identification of what should be covered is more important than
when. What is high school material in one location may be
college material in another.
1. The first 5 years. The Talbot County
Framework page in a two or three page, well-written
table, includes mathematics
framework for preschool to grade 5, one grade or year per
column. Each curriculum item is accompanied by an action to
support or reach it. The resulting path gives a very clear
checklist for what should be covered in Pre-School to Grade 5,
and when. Read this first if you teaching these grades,
or preschool. This checklist is close to providing a script for
instruction.
2. Years 6 and 7. The Talbot County
Framework page also also offers a mathematics
framework for grades 6 & 7. This table provides another
check list as well, not yet as clear as the pre-school to grade
5 one. Read this short item second if you teaching these
grade 1 to 8.
3. All Years, Most Subjects. The Massachusetts
Department of Education offers frameworks for many subjects
including mathematics. The Massachusetts August 2000
mathematics framework, is comprehensive for grades 1 to
12.. Read it third if you are interested in US elementary and
high school instruction. It provides a detailed, well-written
checklist for mathematics instruction from primary school to
college. This checklist follows and improves on the
"Standards" of the National
Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
4. Offline, The Mathematical Association of America,
CUPM Panel on Teacher Training, in 1983 published
Recommendations for on the Mathematical Preparation of
Teachers, ISBN 0-99385-052-4. The recommendations are still
worth reading. Here CUPM stands for Committee on
Undergraduate Program in Mathematics.
Compare or contrast this reference with more recent efforts.
5. For Better or Worse. The US
National Committee of Teachers of
Mathematics has an Illuminations
Website to illustrate it principles
and standards, online from 1989 onward. American
Mathematics Society, Mathematical Association of America, and
the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics have all
permitted or designated the US National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics to take the lead in defining what should be taught
at the US national level. But so far, I have found the
committee written material of the National Council of Teachers
of Mathematics too wordy, and for the most part, I find
exploration of its principles and standards, a chore and not a
pleasure. That should not be the case.
Canadian Resources for Education.
1. Offline, The Ontario Curriculum Guideline for
Mathematics, Part 3, Intermediate and Senior Divisions, 1985, is
well-written. It describes well what could or should be mastered
in grades 7 to 12. Compare or contrast it with more recent
efforts.
|
|
|
Teachers & Tutors: Site pages offer better or best practices for providing skills -
simpler than expected & comprehensive but for exercises. For your charges, your duty is to study them alone or in
groups and develop skill building exercises & activities to share. Start now. The effort here is the best I can do.
Others are welcome to refine or exceed it. Please do.
Secondary
Mathematics for Ages 11+, A Practical Approach for home-tutoring or -schooling, or for schools & colleges
with local curriculum control. Study how to include site content - its skill development how-TOs and innovations
into present or future lesson plans - some reading required.
Road
Safety Messages and Questions: When and why should you face
traffic when walking along a road or cycle path? Is it a good
idea to hang limbs outside of cars etc? What gives more
protection in a crash: a car, motorbike or bicycle?
See too, the BBC-Belgium story Texting and
Driving - texting & the impossible test - the article links to a gruesome utube video on the subject
The Logic of Injustice:
How Texas sent
an innocent man to his death - The wrong Carlos. Some judgments are irreversible. Procescution: Where and when prosectors play to win rather than for
justice, guilt beyond a reasonable doubt goes unrespected due to prosecutors who putting winning
first, those innocence before the law may be convicted. Some procescutors offices in continuing to accuse after a pardon
due to reasonable doubt or innocent being shown, may sucessfully oppose compensaton for false convictions
by asserting a pardon individual is still under suspicion. Then the pardoned individual or the latter's estate
is not compensation for years or decade
of improper or false imprisonment, or for execution. Site chapters on Logic
and some in Pattern
Based Reason may slowly lead to greater precision in reading, applying and
writing laws.
May 2012, Composition Starting:
Pre-School and Primary Mathematics - Quantitative Skills, An
Intellectual View, Feedback Welcome:
The 8 Most Popular Site Inlinks
Parent Center: Help your child or teen
learn:
Parent-friendly
Work Booklets for ages 3+ to 13 Use these or others to check
or build skills. Other booklets are available but these booklets
allow parents unsure of themselves in mathematics to help their
children. The selection acquired in Canada is published in the
USA. So it has a US orientation. In retrospect, the selection
shows parents what to check with the booklets or by other ways,
the choice is theirs. But in retrospect, the selection does not
cover integral and fractions liquid weights and measures - ask
the publishers to correct that! For ages 9 to 12 say, parents may
compensate by showing boys and girls how to use weights or mass,
and further measures in food preparation. Beyond that children
may be shown how to measure and calculate angles, lengths and
areas [proportional amounts too] directly or by using maps and
plans drawns to scale. Learning how to gather and measure all the
ingredients, pots and pans for a dish or a meal, along with
cleaning up sets the stage for like activities or experiments in
science courses, and in developing organizational skills,
gives boys and girls a head start. Good luck. At the other
extreme, more comprehensive than light, if your motto is
McCainian: drill, drill, drill then Toronto
mathematician and actor John Mighton's jump math organization has jump math
workbooks for at least grades 3 to 8 for at-home and in-school
use - training sessions for teachers available. Jump math has
been expanding to cover older students. Jump Math Samples: plus
Fractions for
Grades 3-4 & Grades 5-6 [Read] Free Resources grades 1 to 8
[unread - likely to be good]. and
Mathematics
Skills For Ages 3 to 14 - technical!
Skills with take
home value - A few ideas
Basic skills include
time-date-calendar Matters; money matters; map, plan and
scale diagram matters;counting, measuring and figuring;
decision making with logic and likelyhood; being careful and
being aware of the domino effect of mistakes; reading and
writing with precision.
Is your child able to add, subtract and multiply amounts
of money, work with fractions, work with clocks and calendars,
work with maps and plans, and measure length, weight-mass and
volume? Schools may promote your son or daughter without
providing basic skills in reading, writing and
arithmetic.
Arithmetic
and Number Theory Skills
Algebra
Starter Lessons
Geometry
- maps plans trigonometry vectors
More
Algebra
70
Calculus Starter Lessons
Calculus Lessons Elsewhere:
-
How to Ace Calculus: Street Wise Guide - Mostly
Text.
-
Flash
Video for Calculus Phobics
They cover basic topics in ways likely to complement your
notes, your textbooks and site material. When Goldilocks
trespassed in the house of the three bears, she found three bowls
of porridge, two not to her liking, and one just right. Different
bears have different tastes. As invited guest here and elsewhere,
if one or more explanations is not to liking, try another. It may
be better or just right.
Unsolicited Advice
Learning to do and high marks if it comes to easy is often
deceptive - light rather than deep. For that reason, students
with learning difficulties determined not to let it get in their
way may go deeper and farther than those with none. High marks,
if the come easy, may be deceptive - provide a too light and not
a deep mastery. That could have been your problem in secondary
school, one that leads to comprehension shock or difficulties in
calculus and more generally in the first year of college. Bon
Appetite.
|
|
Return to Page Top
Home < Archives < Mathematics Education Essays << links Education Resources online
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] [47] [48] [49] [50] [51] [52] [53] [54] [55][56] [57] [58] [59] [60] [61] [62] [63] [64]
All trademarks and copyrights in this are owned by their
respective owners.
Copyright to comments & contributions are owned by the Poster.
The Rest
© 1995-2011, by site author, Alan Selby, Ph. D., Montreal,
All Rights Reserved ---
Skype
or Email to contact.
|