Intro to Teaching Mathematics

Elementary mathematics teachers do not need a deep knowledge of mathematics

• True

• False

• Only those in the higher elementary grades

Someone who has good subject matter knowledge of mathematics can be a good elementary mathematics teacher.

• No. The person also needs knowledge of how to teach mathematics

• Yes. The person simply needs to show students what they know.

• Yes. The person simply needs to show students how to work out math problems.

An elementary mathematics teacher with a good knowledge of mathematics will be more open to accepting students' methods of doing mathematics

• True

• False

Why is it good for a mathematics teacher to have knowledge of other subjects?

• Knowledge of other subjects is not needed to be a teacher of mathematics

• Because it allows the teacher to demonstrate more authority in class

• Because it allows the teacher more easily to connect mathematics to real life situations

A teacher who holds a problem-solving view of mathematics views mathematics as

• a static but unified body of

  knowledge, consisting of interconnecting structures and truths

• a

  continually expanding field of human inquiry

• a useful but unrelated collection

  of facts, rules and skills

A teacher who emphasizes basic

numeracy as knowledge of facts, rules and skills, without regard for meaningful

connections within this knowledge is showing

• an instrumentalist view of mathematics

• a Platonist view of mathematics

• a problem solving view of mathematics

Most modern curriculums are based on which view of mathematics?

• Instrumentalist

• Platonist

• Problem solving

It is not necessary for mathematics to make sense to a student. They only need to follow the procedure prescribed by the teacher to get the correct answer.

• True

• False

Learning to teach mathematics requires experience.

• True

• False

Your goal as a mathematics teacher is to

• help students make sense of mathematical content

• make mathematics easy for the student to understand

• help students learn how to apply mathematical ideas to solve problems

• foster positive dispositions, such as persistence, flexibility, willingness to learn, and valuing mathematics