This past week, ISB hosted a parent workshop on current thinking and practice around mathematics learning, led by Jennifer Chang Wathall. We’ve summarized some of her key points below. With consultants we are not able to record meetings, but we will be brining Dr. Chang Wathall back for some future engagements.
Twitter: @JenniferWathall
website: jenniferchangwathall.com
“The essence of mathematics is not to make simple things complicated but complicated things simpler”
Professor Stan Gudder
Three guiding questions:
- Why do we need to teach for deep conceptual understanding?
- What is concept based mathematics?
- What are some of the myths about effective mathematics learning?
Three myths about mathematics learning:
- Practice makes perfect- purposeful, dynamic practice makes perfect
- Learning mathematics is about getting the right answers are not making mistakes-making mistakes grow your brain and productive struggle is part of the learning process
- Mathematics learning is about speed and completing questions as fast as you can- mathematics is about deep slow thinking and problem-solving