Marain’s Math Maven Moment (Part 2 and last)

Dave Marain of MathNotations interviewd Lynn Arthur Steen, a math ed reform professor involved with the NCTM Standards back in 1989. Three links: I explain a tiny bit more, Dave published Part 1, and finally, just today, he publishes Part 2. That last one’s the link most of you want to click.

By far the more interesting set of questions and answers come from this last part. A puzzle. I chose 11 bits from the Q&A, and organized them. How?

• As AP courses go, AP calculus is one of the best.
• The linear model of mathematics learning is wrong in almost every respect.
• Use of technology is as important as use of fractions, and both need to be taught and tested.
• For life … factoring is a relatively useless skill. For higher mathematics, the conceptual role of factors is crucial…
• The new Algebra II may well be the last mathematics course ever taken by many of today’s high school students.
• The types of problems Singaporean children … are tackling seem more complex than their grade counterparts in the U.S.
• I read [the Standards] as clarion call for eliminating the tradition, most evident in mathematics, to select and educate only the most able students
• As mathematicians and educators … work together on common projects, each learns from the other and the frictions that led to the math wars begin to reduce.
• competent teachers need to be free to teach in whatever way is effective for them—which implies minimum constraints from state- or district-imposed curricula and tests.
• frustration among K-12 mathematics educators … [want] to do … the best for … students but … mandated to follow new curricula and programs that come and go …
• Mathematically able students [need] opportunities for horizontal exploration of optional topics … Far better to slow down, spread horizontally, and dig deeper into the hidden corners of the regular curriculum.