What OurPlanet believes about learning mathematics
The power of mathematics for describing and analysing the world around us is such that it has become a highly effective tool for solving problems. It is also recognized that students can appreciate the intrinsic fascination of mathematics and explore the world through its unique perceptions. In the same way that students describe themselves as “authors” or “artists”, a school’s programme should also provide students with the opportunity to see themselves as “mathematicians”, where they enjoy and are enthusiastic when exploring and learning about mathematics.
In the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP), mathematics is also viewed as a vehicle to support inquiry, providing a global language through which we make sense of the world around us. It is intended that students become competent users of the language of mathematics, and can begin to use it as a way of thinking, as opposed to seeing it as a series of facts and equations to be memorized.
Instruction and assessment of Mathematics is organised around 4 strands/skills:
- Data Handling
- Shape and Space
- Pattern and Function
The learning continuum for each strand is represented in 4 phases of development.
How children learn mathematics
It is important that learners acquire mathematical understanding by constructing their own meaning through ever-increasing levels of abstraction, starting with exploring their own personal experiences, understandings and knowledge. Additionally, it is fundamental to the philosophy of the PYP that, since it is to be used in real-life situations, mathematics needs to be taught in relevant, realistic contexts, rather than by attempting to impart a fixed body of knowledge directly to students.
Constructing meaning about mathematics
Learners construct meaning based on their previous experiences and understanding, and by reflecting upon their interactions with objects and ideas. Therefore, involving learners in an active learning process, where they are provided with possibilities to interact with manipulatives and to engage in conversations with others, is paramount to this stage of learning mathematics.
When making sense of new ideas all learners either interpret these ideas to conform to their present understanding or they generate a new understanding that accounts for what they perceive to be occurring. This construct will continue to evolve as learners experience new situations and ideas, have an opportunity to reflect on their understandings and make connections about their learning.
Transferring meaning into symbols
Only when learners have constructed their ideas about a mathematical concept should they attempt to transfer this understanding into symbols. Symbolic notation can take the form of pictures, diagrams, modelling with concrete objects and mathematical notation. Learners should be given the opportunity to describe their understanding using their own method of symbolic notation, then learning to transfer them into conventional mathematical notation.
Applying with understanding
Applying with understanding can be viewed as the learners demonstrating and acting on their understanding. Through authentic activities, learners should independently select and use appropriate symbolic notation to process and record their thinking. These authentic activities should include a range of practical hands-on problem-solving activities and realistic situations that provide the opportunity to demonstrate mathematical thinking through presented or recorded formats. In this way, learners are able to apply their understanding of mathematical concepts as well as utilize mathematical skills and knowledge.
As they work through these stages of learning, students and teachers use certain processes of mathematical reasoning.
- They use patterns and relationships to analyse the problem situations upon which they are working.
- They make and evaluate their own and each other’s ideas.
- They use models, facts, properties and relationships to explain their thinking.
- They justify their answers and the processes by which they arrive at solutions.
In this way, students validate the meaning they construct from their experiences with mathematical situations. By explaining their ideas, theories and results, both orally and in writing, they invite constructive feedback and also lay out alternative models of thinking for the class. Consequently, all benefit from this interactive process.
Mathematics in a transdisciplinary programme
Wherever possible, mathematics is taught through the relevant, realistic context of the units of inquiry. The direct teaching of mathematics in a unit of inquiry may not always be feasible but, where appropriate, prior learning or follow-up activities are used by students to make connections between the different aspects of the curriculum. Students also have opportunities to identify and reflect on “big ideas” within and between the different strands of mathematics, the programme of inquiry and other subject areas.
Links to the transdisciplinary themes is explicitly made, whether or not the mathematics is being taught within the programme of inquiry. A developing understanding of these links contributes to the students’ understanding of mathematics in the world and to their understanding of the transdisciplinary theme. The role of inquiry in mathematics is important, regardless of whether it is being taught inside or outside the programme of inquiry. However, it is recognized that there are occasions when it is preferable for students to be given a series of strategies for learning mathematical skills in order to progress in their mathematical understanding rather than struggling to proceed.
Click on image to view complete Mathematics Continuum