Heeyon (Jennifer) Park

EDS 374/ Professor Halter

Math Exploration 4
August 6, 2014
Teaching Meaning vs. Method: Mathematics Beliefs
Students come to class with varying strengths, personalities, background knowledge, and
learning styles. To create the best learning opportunities for all students, teachers should adopt
multiple teaching strategies to increase differentiation. It is easy to teach students the different
types of methods of solving systems of linear equations such as elimination and substitution and
then to require students to memorize them. There is less work to be done by teacher this way
because at the end of the lesson, a worksheet will be provided to make students practice these
methods multiple times. However, the purpose of having both elimination and substitution
method is that each method can be easier or helpful to use for particular systems. Not every
systems of linear equations have to be solved through elimination and perhaps the amount of
work can be greatly reduced depending on the method used. There are deeper meanings behind
mathematical concepts and techniques of solving problems. However if teachers merely teach
the mechanics of solving without allowing students to think critically and explore the new
knowledge then students will become experts of only elimination and substitution methods
instead of becoming skilled problem solvers that achieve beyond just those two methods.
Growing up, mathematics was an everyday learning for me because of my mom who was
a math teacher and personal tutor. She taught math at home and I remember it because a lot of
math problems she gave me were difficult. Definitely she taught me the methods of solving and I
only remember doing just problem solving from a book. However, they were not regular math
problems you would see in textbooks but those were for students who prepared for math leagues
or competitions. An example problem I had to solve as a 3
rd
grade is the followings: There are
total four cards and three of the cards have numbers 1, 4, and 7 written on them and one card is
blank. If you want to make a three-digit number using three of the four cards such that the sum of
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the third largest three-digit number and the third smallest three-digit number is 924, then what
should be the number on the blank card?

I can definitely solve the problem now but it is still quite a challenging problem because I
had to give it a numerous attempts until I found the answer. Imagine giving this problem to a
third grade who rarely has any number sense and never even actually fully understood numbers,
their relationships, and how they are affected by operations. In order to solve this problem, the
child must first understand the problem and be able to organize information. Also because each
number card cannot be used repetitively, the child should process what number card are left to
use after eliminating each. There are many skills and thoughts involved in this one problem and
therefore it can be a struggle for a young child to come up with a solution on his or her own.
What my mom did to help me solve is that she taught me the number sense and how the cards
were sorted out. During the teaching process, she would also show me how to solve the problem
as well. However, throughout her teaching of methods and meaning, I would only focus on the
techniques of solving because that is what she emphasized. She did ask me time to time if I were
understanding her explanation but never gave me time to think or discuss the meanings. The
meaning of the problem for a third grader is less important because I can never remember it
again and I do not care how numbers work. I was not engaged not only because the problems
were difficult, but also because I could see in my moms face how stressed she was in teaching
me. Eventually we got through the problem but the next time I saw a similar problem, it was the
same process all over again. This time, I thought about the numbers and techniques my mom had
taught me previously but unfortunately, the numbers in the new problem were not the same as
the previous. I could do the previous three-digit number problem but nothing new that involved
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different numbers. When learning mathematics from my mom and from the math workbook we
studied, I struggled through every single problem and she did also in teaching me. She was
worried that I was not smart enough and often spoke harsh words to me as a child. Even if I got
through the problem, the stress and struggles were repeated all over again in the next problem
because the previous techniques she taught me did not match with the new problem. For me as a
child, every single problem was new even though they were actually similar concepts.
Maybe she did prepare me well because I barely struggled with mathematics throughout
junior and secondary school years. However that was because by then I was skilled at
memorizing problems and spent nights before the tests practicing different problems. I prepared
myself through exposing myself to different types of problems and focused on techniques more
than concepts. And now I can understand why I did poorly on multiple choice tests that were
concept-focused compared to free response ones that were merely problem solving. I cared less
about the meaning of solving quadratic equations through different methods of completing the
square, quadratic formula, and factoring. Simply because I liked the quadratic formula, I used
that for every single problem even though different methods could be used for different types of
equations. Then eventually my learning background in mathematics through mastering problems
with repeated practices, memorization, and short cuts became useless when I entered college as a
mathematics major where math became abstract and analysis-focused.
I think the difference between students who understand the meaning of mathematical
operation and those who are only taught methods of solving certain types of problems is that
those who were taught the meanings are able to develop their solving skills on their own and also
able to figure out ways to solve without being taught the methods behind. Teaching
mathematical concepts is more valuable than promoting memorization through repeated practices
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because it allows students to critically think about the relationship between numbers and why
specific rules apply to certain numbers. And once they establish the understanding of how and
why on their own thoughts, then the concept will never leave their head and can be reused at any
time in the next step of learning. It allows students to make the mathematical knowledge their
own instead of see it as another boring math rule they have to memorize.
To present both the meanings and methods to students effectively, teachers must engage
students by using teaching strategies that effectively invite students to learn and by showing how
mathematics is related to real life. By balancing between the three types of competitive,
individualistic, cooperative learning, the teacher can promote students interactions and embrace
each students unique learning styles such as reflective and think-aloud. Also by shifting the
focus and the organizations of classroom, the students can remain engaged because they are too
busy adapting to different activities instead of being bored of one. Of course, effective classroom
management skill is critical in adjusting classroom environment and maintaining control of the
students behaviors. To effectively teach both the meanings and methods, students should not
only find learning fun but find mathematics relevant to their own lives. Instead of presenting a
worksheet of numbers and teaching them formulas, promote students to think about how
formulas came about and why they are useful. Also present real-life applications that are relevant
to the mathematical concepts they learn in order to help students recognize the significance of
learning mathematics on their own. Often times practice can be necessary in order to promote
understanding but by allowing students to think, discuss, and discover on their own, students can
intake both the meanings as well as techniques as their own understandings such that they will
continue using and developing them in the next levels of learning.