A recent article proclaims with great fanfare two new publications of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). One is for elementary teachers and the other for middle school teachers. In the words of the article, the publications address “how to help all students view themselves as “capable learners and doers” of math.”
Something tells me that the report isn’t strong on students learning their addition/subtraction and times tables by heart. And it probably is not big on practice, or worked examples, and scaffolded problems, but I’m just guessing here. I could be completely wrong.
The article states that the reports stress the importance of teaching math using methods that are “consistent with research-informed and equitable teaching practices.”
Nothing wrong with research informing your practices, but it really depends on the research. Is it research that is done with controls in a scientific manner, or the typical “action research”…
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