Reflection: Mathematics Education

Reflection: Mathematics Education

The writer used “assumption” when it talked about the mathematics in the first paragraph. I do agree with mathematics is abstracted from the real-life questions and used to solve similarly or extend problems in real life. Math is real. The connection between students’ lives and mathematics concepts is important. The feeling of the connection will encourage the student to inquire more. For example, I have talked with a student who likes to play games and hate to work on a math problem. So, we discussed the game, he realized the game took his input as the variables, such as the stress he used to push the keyboard, and the speed of his action. There might be some polynomial equation used in the game to judge his action fail or success. If students can observe the phenomenon in their daily life, they will find more connections to the math theory. Math will not be an assumption in their mind.

I do not support to have a standard method of teaching or learning math. The conservative and progressive theory could use to do research, however, when the teacher stands in the classroom,  he/she must integrate all the effect factors from both theory to increase the efficiency of the teaching result. Currently, students like to use a calculator to do number operation, and some of them have to depend on the calculators to solve the factoring within 100. I was shocked. In any learning, memory is the base of inquiring knowledge, including mathematics. If the students only can depend on the calculator, they will become the screen of the computer. When the power of computer is turned off, there is nothing left on the screen. Lack of basic fluency, students could not connect the problem with solving the solution easily. They will be stuck, and loss the interesting to continue, they are the robot which depends on the calculator to help to operate.  

The article mentioned a shortage of specialist maths teachers. I really want to know the reason. Math is the foundation of science and technology. Without a strong math foundation, Canadian youth will lose their place on the global job market. Therefore, society needs to solve the problem of the shortage of specialist maths teachers and research on the causes.