The Normal Assessment Methods in Mathematics Instead of Pre-Primary School - Essay Example

Introduction It could be normally assumed that mathematics curriculum materials that have been adopted by a school district would be used by teachers and in the spirit intended by the developers of curriculum. Ball, D. L (2007) had described the role of textbooks as very important in all schools and it could be termed as a prominent one and even though it could not be termed as a dominant one it could be termed as a very important one. Ball, D. L (2007) had argued that “Teachers decide what to teach, how to teach it, and what sorts of exercises to assign to their students largely on the basis of what is contained in the textbook authorized for their course.” Ball, D. L (2007) have argued that” for most teachers the textbook serves as the scope and sequence determining what content is taught and its order “.Ball, D. L (2007) has argued that “many teachers pick and choose units to use and replace units of their text with other materials “.It has been seen that teachers has been seen as teaching to students in the same manner they have been taught during the training days. That means transitions to different curriculum of different instructional philosophies have been difficult. (Ball, 2007). That means mathematics curriculum should be taught in a manner that has been consistent with program philosophy. Mathematics has become increasingly difficult for students to understand, make meaningful in their daily lives, and demonstrate competency in on standardized achievement tests. The normal Assessment methods in mathematics in lieu of pre primary school. Math test Book The teacher would be depending on the math test to make sure that the student is given the base for understanding the concepts well. The aim would be to keep the subject limited to the areas that has been covered in the test. That would be causing the problem as the students could be taught about the relevance of the issue of using math’s in everyday life. In the lower grades, the students could be taught interestingly about the value of using addition and that would mean that there would be a change in the way math’s could be made more enjoyable. From a personal experience of having used math’s test in the elementary school what I have found is that it is better to give more fun by using math’s in the early days as that can create an excitement when they use maths.That could be done by using individual and group assiginments.The other method has been to use computer to play games. This could be done using mathematics lab and this could be the place where the concepts that has been taught in the class could be tested. There could be a teaching in method in which the operation, how and why it will most appropriately allow them to solve a real-world problem should be addressed by every teacher and as Ault, (2006) had designed various assessments to test students’ ability to transfer quantitative data into algebraic form, to use solutions of equations and inequalities to formulate new ideas, and to interpret and communicate an algebraic solution of a problem. Students would be working in groups to solve problems; teachers could be assigning them roles of the investigation that would be matching their individual needs. (Carroll, W. M, 1997).The role of very teacher would be to improve the students’ outlook of mathematics in general and especially the perception of their individual mathematic abilities. The key factors that would be determining the student’s role would be that teachers’ years of experience, enthusiasm, and professional development and the ability of the students to understand the reform based program. Teachers, as students, should be adapting a policy of become well with practice The Math’s practice workbook It has been seen that teachers has been writing two problems on the board and they could be termed as examples and they would be passing the same idea of problems for the students with the hope that students would be generating interests for the subject of Mathematics. That has not been seen as getting the desired result and the aim of the mathematics would be to avoid the fear and aversion of the students about the subject. That would also include removing the misunderstanding about mathematics subject and that has used to instill the concepts and process and that would be helping the students to have connection with content of mathematics. There has to be improvement of the student’s ability to communicate the ideas of mathematics and there has to be change in the attitude of the administrators and teachers as well. Teachers of these classrooms have been no longer considered as deliverers of information but the main key has been to ask the right questions by the students so that the capabilities of the students are challenged and that means the students could be made to work in groups. There has to be heated discussion about the various strategies that has been used in solving a problem and that would build an issue of team inside a classroom and that would help the creativity of students. It has been seen that one problem could be studied for one week or one particular period before taking another set of problems. There has to be proponents of traditional mathematics that would be concerned that modern mathematics would be hindering students’ ability to perform basic mathematical operations. The workbook would be having problems that would be related to daily life so that the students would feel that they are getting part of it. The end of grade one should mean that the students would be well versed in using concept of using one and tens in the number system and students would be adding and subtracting the number in ease and that would mean that the practices books has to be used. Chapter tests There has to be a test that has to be done in the class that has been done after completing chapter. Ball, D. L., & Cohen, D. K., (2006) has argued that the literature would be encouraging the mathematics users to give tests that would be making the students to memorize .This has been the main thing that has to be avoided and the students should be encouraged to understand the concepts and that has been to maximize the competence of the students (Porter, A, 2005) There has to be usage of enhance the competiveness of the students when it comes to learning mathematics. There has to be a growing concern for increasing the test scores of the primary school students each year and the performance of the students has to be assessed in state and national level when it comes to mathematics and experiments has to be done to understand the elementary, middle aged and high school students. The studies in these aspects has been done in the following areas Math cape (Seymour, D. & Davidson, P., 2003), Everyday Mathematics (Seymour, D. & Davidson, P., 2003), Connected Mathematics (Seymour, D. & Davidson, P., 2003), Interactive Mathematics Program and College Preparatory Mathematics (Seymour, D. & Davidson, P., 2003), and the Core-Plus Mathematics Project (Seymour, D. & Davidson, P., 2003). Challenge Workbook This is the area in which the students would be encouraged to come out with their own versions of understanding math’s and come out problems that would be suited to their everyday life. This is one aspect in which the student would be challenging the basic mathematical concepts when compared with the traditional mathematics and that could create a interests in the mind of the student. The teachers would be challenging the children to use sounds when using math’s and that would mean that the students would be encouraged to take their numbers by saying it aloud.There has to be covering of problem solving, number relations, and algebraic calculations (Ault, 2006) and that would be building the cognitive ability. discuss which of the change/s you believe should be implemented and justify your choice/s of changes to be made There has to be change in the method of teaching mathematics to students and that has to be meant that the students should not feel burdened about learning mathematics. There has to be finding of changing the curriculum or teaching environment that would be changing the benefits of the teaching mathematics. The students should be active in the classroom and that would be giving the teachers an opportunity to make it effective. The teachers would be using problem-based learning and that would be effective if the problems are well-designed and well-sequenced.( Flynn, L., Lawrenz, F., & Schultz, M. J,2005) There has to be a guide to implementing standards-based curriculum ,and that mean that the parents be fully informed of the nature and implications of a change in curriculum that would be taking place. Regular communication with parents would be more crucial than ever because they would not have the resources available at home to help their children or would become easily frustrated when they do not understand a problem or assignment. The mathematics education would be having many barriers to cross before successfully meeting the goals. The steps that has to be followed has been There has to be no difference between the textbook that has been used and the lessons that has been covered. (Goldsmith, L. T., & Mark, J., 1999)More time would be spend for curriculum development and the book or the subject has to be created according to the curriculum . There has to be more time that has to be spend for developing the teaching methods. The teachers must be taught about the general features of the new curriculum that has been designed and they should understand why the new curriculum has been needed. The issues from a personal point of view While I was studying in preschool, the teachers of mathematics were more interested in finishing the course within the stipulated time and they were not concerned about the understanding the subject and making an interest in the mind of the teachers about mathematics. The other disadvantage that the math’s teachers were having was that they were following a format and that meant that there was no creativity involved in the following of subject. There was no involvement in the form of any math’s group and there was no involvement from the part of the students to form a group so that the teaching could be made more interesting. There was a set of questions that has been followed by the teacher and that means the students would be having an easy time as they are following the path that has been said by the teacher without having any botheration of the use of mathematics in daily life. In short the teaching of maths has been left as a study of addition and subtraction only. There has to be more creative work books that would be increasing the creativity of students and there has to be more participation of teachers when they teach mathematics. The school days would be the most important phase as it would be the formation of base in the maths and that has to be the most important criteria in teaching maths. The issue of the student following the same set of problems as examples and in the problem set could be related to the science curriculum in the sense that the students would be made part of practical class without being allowed to find things of their own. That means there would be more of theoretical knowledge of how a butterfly is born but there would be no practical knowledge of how a butterfly is really born. Moreover the teacher would be encouraging that the student need follow the syllabus only and there would be no encouragement on the part of the teachers to encourage the students to find the things on their own beyond the syllabus and that would include the latest things. For example it could be related to the finding of water on moon and how that is going to affect the life in Earth in future? What is the significance of finding? All these inquisitive questions would be developing a feeling of research on the mind of the children and that would mean that the students would be more research oriented or discovery oriented and they would be feeling more interested in their course of study. This has to be the most important quality that has to be developed when teaching a subject and that would include that the student would be more team oriented and would be developing an genuine interest in the subject. The reason why the issue has been believed to be significant has been that every student would be following the act of monotonous when it comes to learning key areas like mathematics and science and that would be affecting the research based mid of the child and that would be affecting the knowledge based society in the future. The role of teacher has been to form the base for maths in the syllabus provided and develop an inquisitive mind on the children so that they would be developing an independent knowledge beyond the curriculum that has been provided. Conclusion There has to be clear change in the management of teaching at school level itself as it has been seen affecting the future of students. The issue of not teaching properly would be affecting the society as a whole as students would not have got the ability to find things on their own and to relate the everyday activities with the subject like why a dam has been broken and has it got anything to do with the faulty measurements in the construction and so on? Has the accidents in the road has increased due to a change in the measurement of radius of curve of road and so on? What has been the use of mathematics in insurance and financial areas and how it has been seen as affecting our daily life? Reference Ball, D. L. (2007). Unlearning to teach mathematics. For the Learning of Mathematics, 8(1), 40-48. Ball, D. L., & Cohen, D. K. (2006). Reform by the book: What is—or might be—the role of curriculum materials in teacher learning and instructional reform? Educational Researcher, 25(9), 6-8, 14. Porter, A. (2005). Measuring the content of instruction: Uses in research and practice, Educational Researcher, 31(7), 3-14. Seymour, D. & Davidson, P. (2003). A history of no textbook materials. In George Stannic and Jeremy Kilpatrick (Eds.), A History of Mathematics Education ,Vol. 2,pp. 989-1035. Ault, M. C. (2006). The effects of a standards-based mathematics program on student achievement at a public middle school in the Midwest (Doctoral dissertation,University of Cincinnati, 2006). Retrieved October 2, 2009, from OhioLINK database: http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?acc%5Fnum=ucin1145582253 Carroll, W. M. (1997, March). Results of third-grade students in a reform curriculum on the Illinois state mathematics test. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 28(2), 237-242. Flynn, L., Lawrenz, F., & Schultz, M. J. (2005, March). Block scheduling and mathematics:Enhancing standards-based instruction? NASSP Bulletin, 89(642), 14-23. Goldsmith, L. T., & Mark, J. (1999, November). What is a standards-based mathematics curriculum? Educational Leadership, 57(3), 40-44. Read More