1) What 'should' come first in learning math: instrumental
or relational understanding? Why? In what
contexts?
When we teach students, it’s always good to have a relational understanding.
So we start with relational teaching to let students connect the concept with
their foundation knowledge. If the student has difficulty to understand, then
they can memorize it as instrumental understanding, and digest it later to build
the relational understanding. Class size
and the diverse level of the students influence the teaching style.
2) When is a general view of a topic appropriate? When to
get really specific?
When we start a unit, we start with a general view and build
up the connection with the former knowledge. Then we move to specific
applications. By the end of the unit, we go a general view of the topic, to create
the mind map of the chapter, and build up the relational connection.
3) How can we, as mathematics teachers, work to improve the
negative attitudes of math anxiety in our communities? Are these attitudes the
same in all cultures, or could Canadian society learn more positive approaches
to mathematics from other cultures?
The society needs more support on math learning, and also
emphasize the advantage of math skills and knowledge. The whole society needs
to agree on the importance of math and encourage the young generation to learn it.
This kind of environment might be found in the Asia culture, include china.
Brenda, Carla, Roya
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