Archive for November 2010
What constructivist mathematics is not …
Posted by: Gary Ernest Davis on: November 5, 2010
Over at Parenting is Political, @northTOmom has written a recent post:Â THIS MATH DEPRESSES ME. Part of what concerns @northTOmom is what she identifies as “constructivist” math. Here is what she writes: “So why do I object to constructivist math? One reason is that it is, by-design, non-incremental or “spiral”: its textbooks jump around from […]
High stakes tests, mathematics word problems, & second-language learners
Posted by: Gary Ernest Davis on: November 4, 2010
High stakes tests and word problems It is increasingly expected, and in most U.S. states required by law, that students will learn and achieve at grade-level standards if they are to graduate from high school. In mathematics, the tests used to measure whether students meet grade-level standards often involve word problems set in contexts considered […]
