Implementing the “Curriculum and Evaluation Standards”: Ladders and Saws

1993 ◽  
Vol 86 (6) ◽  
pp. 510-513
Author(s):  
Debra Tvrdik ◽  
Dave Blum
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
Mathematical Ideas ◽  
School Year ◽  
Real World Applications ◽  
Geometry Class

How many of our students begin the school year apprehensive and fearful of their geometry class? They enter the room having heard all sorts of horror stories about the dreaded two-column proof and all those theorems. Too often, geometry is taught mechanically with an emphasis on recalling facts. The NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards (1989) calls for a move away from geometry as a tour through a collection of predetermined Euclidean theorems and their proofs. Instead, they advocate greater attention to approaches using coordinates and transformations, to real-world applications and modeling, and to investigations leading to student-generated theorems and conjectures, with supporting arguments expressed orally or in paragraph form. As teachers, we search for activities that will involve our students in the study of geometry and help them to understand the “whys” behind the facts. The following activity employs several strategies to enable students to make conjectures, construct mathematical ideas, and use mathematics as a tool to communicate with others.

What Is in the Daily News? Problem-Solving Opportunities!

1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (7) ◽  
pp. 390-394
Author(s):  
Robyn Silbey
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Real World ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Daily News ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
Mathematical Ideas ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Everyday World ◽  
Real World Problems

In An Agenda for Action, the NCTM asserted that problem solving must be at the heart of school mathematics (1980). Almost ten years later, the NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989) stated that the development of each student's ability to solve problems is essential if he or she is to be a productive citizen. The Standards assumed that the mathematics curriculum would emphasize applications of mathematics. If mathematics is to be viewed as a practical, useful subject, students must understand that it can be applied to various real-world problems, since most mathematical ideas arise from the everyday world. Furthermore, the mathematics curriculum should include a broad range of content and an interrelation of that content.

Exploring Estimation through Children's Literature

1994 ◽  
Vol 41 (8) ◽  
pp. 436-441
Author(s):  
David J. Whitin
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Real World ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
Mental Computation ◽  
Real World Applications

Estimation is a crucial mathematical strategy that can be woven throughout the entire mathematics curriculum. The strategy can certainly foster the development of many of the goals advocated by the NCTM's curriculum and evaluation standards (1989). Since approximately 80 percent of real-world applications of mathematics involve estimation or mental computation, the goal of becoming an “informed electorate” requires us to use and analyze various estimation strategies.

A Popcorn Project for All Students

1997 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 194-200
Author(s):  
Lydotta M. Taylor ◽  
Joann L. King
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Cooperative Learning ◽  
Real World ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Combine Data ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
Mathematical Ideas ◽  
Mathematical Connections ◽  
Reasoning Problem

The NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989) encourages teachers to include activities that help students “construct and draw inferences from charts, tables, and graphs that summarize data from real-world situations” (p. 167) and “express mathematical ideas orally and in writing” (p. 140). The following activities combine data gathering and analysis with cooperative learning, mathematical connections, reasoning, problem solving, and communication.

Our Diets May Be Killing Us

1995 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 376-382
Author(s):  
Brenda K. J. Shannon
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Everyday Lives ◽  
Grade Levels ◽  
Real World Applications ◽  
School Day ◽  
Class Period

A push seems to be on for more real-world applications in the mathematics curriculum at all grade levels. Recommendations from such sources as the NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989) and the National Research Council's Everybody Counts (1989) advocate making mathematics more than just a subject taught one class period of each school day. The time has come to bring mathematics out of the classroom and show the students that the knowledge and skills from mathematics can be beneficial in their everyday lives. But how do we, as educators, actually accomplish this goal?

Becoming Flexible with Functions: Investigating United States Population Growth

1996 ◽  
Vol 89 (5) ◽  
pp. 414-418
Author(s):  
Barry E. Shealy
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Modeling ◽  
United States ◽  
Real World ◽  
Core Curriculum ◽  
National Council ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
Mathematical Ideas ◽  
Problem Situations ◽  
United States Population ◽  
Real World Problem

Real-world contexts are appearing more often in international curricula, and the arguments for using modeling and applications are broadening (Blum and Niss 1991). The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, in its Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989), suggests that modeling is a great context for developing problem-solving and reasoning skills. These types of experiences promote communication and allow students to make connections among mathematical ideas and between mathematics and other disciplines. Modeling activities are also consistent with the concept of a core curriculum, offering contexts for a variety of types and depths of problems. It is not surprising that the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards points out that students should be able to “apply the process of mathematical modeling to real-world problem situations” (NCTM 1989, 137)

Technology Tips: Making Connections Using Embedded Software

1995 ◽  
Vol 88 (6) ◽  
pp. 500-502
Author(s):  
Claire Groden ◽  
Laurie Pattison-Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Mathematics Classroom ◽  
Embedded Software ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
The World ◽  
Real World Applications ◽  
Interdisciplinary Projects ◽  
Real World Situation

The NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards or School Mathematics (1989) calls for increased ttention to “connecting mathematics to other subjects and to the world outside the classroom.” Often, these connections are made with interdisciplinary projects and through the study of mathematics embedded in a real-world situation. We can also make connections by using software created for practical, real-world applications in the mathematics classroom

Sharing Teaching Ideas: Calculator Cryptography

2003 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 210-212
Author(s):  
Matthew Hall
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Teachers ◽  
Real World ◽  
Mathematical Ideas ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Real World Applications ◽  
Teaching Ideas

Allowing students to participate in real-world applications of mathematics enables them to advance their own understanding of mathematical topics. Furthermore, most mathematics teachers would agree with NCTM's statement that “students' engagement with, and ownership of, abstract mathematical ideas can be fostered through technology” (NCTM 2000, p. 25). However, finding real applications becomes increasingly difficult as students progress into higher forms of mathematics like algebra. One topic that I have found particularly effective in demonstrating the importance of algebra and the use of technology is cryptography, or the encoding and decoding of messages.

Combinatorics Connections: Playoff Series and Pascal's Triangle

1992 ◽  
Vol 85 (7) ◽  
pp. 532-535
Author(s):  
Bonnie H. Litwiller ◽  
David R. Duncan
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Discrete Mathematics ◽  
National Council ◽  
Major Theme ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
Mathematical Ideas ◽  
Pascal’S Triangle ◽  
Pascal's Triangle ◽  
The Relationship

One major theme of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematic's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards far School Mathematics (1989) is the connection between mathematical ideas and their applications to real-world situations. We shall use concepts from discrete mathematics in describing the relationship between sports series and Pascal's triangle.

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