Brian Cohen
  • Making the Grade Blog
  • About Me
  • Tutoring
  • Press
  • Resources to Share

Math education: procedural vs. relational

1/16/2013

0 Comments

 
Secondary school math teachers across the country are often plagued with the student phrase, "I'm just not good at math." Parents often support this statement, saying, "I wasn't good at math in school either." These claims - while believed to be true - are really a reflection of the lack of understanding they have concerning what mathematics truly is: an interconnected set of definitions and relations that can (and should) be used to make sense of the world. 

As education pundits often point out, the US is currently mid-range in its mathematics performance on international standardized tests. The TIMSS 2011 assessment shows us as being 9 out of 42, beat out by countries like Finland and Korea. In the battle for technological greatness in the 21st century, it is important to the United States to be shown as a leader in mathematical understanding. Therefore, this number is not a good one to show off.

Unfortunately, mathematics education in the US is not focusing on the correct content. The low performance on math tests across the country (including college entrance exams) points to a larger problem. In a recent research article in Educational Psychologist, the researchers point out that students are "apt to attempt procedures that are partially or incorrectly recalled without regard to the reasonableness of the solution" (p.190). Across the country, "the practices of American teachers often do not correspond at all well with the strategies [believed to] promote deep learning and acquisition of the conceptual structure of mathematics" (p. 190). 

Stated succinctly: students think of math as a series of procedures and steps instead of the interconnected set of definitions and relations mentioned earlier. 

The most recent example of this in Philadelphia is the Benchmark exam, a test crafted by CTB McGraw-Hill for use by teachers across the city. The exam consists of 25 multiple-choice and two open-ended questions for students to answer. While these questions are supposed to be modeled off the concepts in the Common Core Standards, they instead rely on much procedural reasoning in their implementation. Analysis of patterns was hardly a concept much focused on in this test.

If we as a country want to improve our understanding of mathematics on a deeper level we have to think about how to assess this information. Standardized tests are not the way to go - they are too simplified for this purpose. We need to deeply understand what it means to be mathematically knowledgable and assess comparably. Unfortunately, the fact that the Keystone test was administered last week does not matter to those in position of influence - we were just reminded of the upcoming benchmark assessments to be given in 2 week's time. I do not imagine they will be of much more use than the first set.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I am a math teacher in the New York Department of Education. I infuse technology and real-world problems into my curriculum in order to prepare my students for the future. I would love for people across the country to recognize we teachers can't do it alone. If you don't believe me, come visit my classroom!

    Picture

    Contact Me

    Picture

    Email Updates

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Archives

    March 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.