On September 13th's class, our group responded to the following questions:
1) What 'should' come first in learning math: instrumental or relational understanding? Why? In what contexts?
2) What is our aim in teaching math: to teach fluency in procedures? To get kids excited about the possibilities in math? To help them have a deep understanding of some (or all) topics? How can we address all the goals that we (and our society in general) have for math learning? How to make principled choices about how we teach what, and when?
3) How can we, as mathematics teachers, work to improve the negative attitudes of math anxiety or math avoidance in our communities? Are these attitudes the same in all cultures, or could Canadian society learn more positive approaches to mathematics from other cultures?
Our responses were summarized on the blackboard:
Thanks!
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