FOUNDATION OF

MATH TEACHING
AND LEARNING
SITTIE ALLYSAH S. OTARA
• Teaching is both an art and a
science. Have you ever
thought about what makes
an effective mathematics
teacher?
• Try to recall the teachers
who influenced your life.
• What made them standout?
An effective mathematics
teacher reflectively
integrates theory with
practice. Why?
To develop one’s
philosophical framework for
teaching mathematics, we
begin by understanding the
nature of mathematics and
the goals of mathematics
education. Research has
shown that the teachers’
beliefs and conceptions
influence the way they
 Lesson 1. The
Nature of Math
(Nivera, 2013)
 Activity 1: Views on Mathematics
Teaching and Learning
DIRECTIONS: Read and reflect on each
item carefully. State whether you agree or
disagree to each of the statements. The
questionnaire asks for your opinion,
hence, there is no right or wrong answer.
1. Learning mathematics means mastering a fixed set of basic skills.

2. Mathematics is a series of arbitrary rules, handed down by the teacher, who in turn
got them from some very smart source.

3. Mathematics is about getting the right answers.

4. There is only one way to solve any problem.

5. Every problem must have a predetermined solution.

6. Mathematics is boring and nothing you can do will make it interesting.

7. Mathematics never changes.

• 8. Only very intelligent people can
understand mathematics. Others cannot
do it at all.
• 9. Males are better in mathematics than
females.
• 10. The harder mathematics is, the better
it is – if it is too easy, it cannot be really
mathematics.
• 11. Mathematics requires the
memorization of a lot of rules and
formulas.
• 12. There is no room for opinions in
mathematics. Everything is right or
wrong, true or false.
• 13. Mathematics is made up of a number
of unrelated topics.
 and
relationship
The National s.
Council of
Teachers of Mathematical
Mathematics ideas are
(NCTM), defines interwoven with
the nature of each other.
mathematics as
follows: Students must
explore the
recurring ideas
or the patterns
and discover the
relationships
between and
 The National Council of
Teachers of Mathematics
(NCTM), defines the nature
of mathematics as follows:
2. Mathematics is a way of
thinking.
The problem-solving activities and
various lessons in mathematics
train us to think logically,
analytically, critically and
systematically. In a way,
mathematics provides us with the
thinking skills needed to confront
everyday problems
 The National Council of
Teachers of Mathematics
(NCTM), defines the nature
of mathematics as follows:

3. Mathematics is an art.
Mathematics is characterized by
order and internal consistency.
Numerous patterns can be found in
numbers and geometric figures.
Tessellations, weaving and tiling are
a few explicit examples of
mathematics in art. By exploring
the orderliness and consistency of
mathematics, we learn to
appreciate its beauty.
 The National Council of
Teachers of Mathematics
(NCTM), defines the nature
of mathematics as follows:
4. Mathematics is a language
It is used to communicate complex
processes and thoughts efficiently using
symbols and specific and precise terms.
Mathematics has its own register, or
special vocabulary, which students have
to learn to be able to communicate well
about mathematics and to speak and
think like mathematicians. For instance,
mathematicians would not use ‘equal’,
‘congruent’ and ‘similar’ interchangeably
as these terms mean different things..
 The National Council of
Teachers of Mathematics
(NCTM), defines the
nature of mathematics
as follows:

5. Mathematics is a
tool
Many occupations
require the knowledge of
mathematics. Scientists,
engineers, businessmen,
and many other
professions use a great
deal of mathematics to
do their work.
Lesson 2. The
Goals of
Mathematics
Education
(Nivera, 2013)
The National Council of If mathematics is not
Teachers of just about performing
Mathematics’ operations, using the
Standards for School right formulas, and
Mathematics (NCTM, getting the right
1989) identified five answers, what then
broad goals required to should be the goals of
meet the students’
mathematical needs
Mathematics teachers?
for the 21st century.
 NCTM recommends that
mathematics teachers
enable students to:

1. Value mathematics
• Students will value mathematics
if they see how, it plays a role in
their real lives and in society.
Thus, your task is to make
mathematics learning
meaningful to the students by
connecting the lesson to their
real-life experiences and
allowing students to experience
mathematics through actual
measurements and explorations
 NCTM recommends that
mathematics teachers
enable students to:

2. Reason
mathematically
Mathematics trains the mind to
think analytically and logically.
Teachers should provide activities
that will provide students
opportunities to reason logically,
make conjectures, gather evidence,
build arguments, and arrive at
informed and sound decisions. The
process of obtaining the correct
answers should be emphasized
NCTM recommends that mathematics
teachers enable students to:

3. Communicate
mathematics
To be able to communicate well in
mathematics, students must be familiar
with the mathematics register, or the
special vocabulary of mathematics. You
must be a good model in the use of
correct and precise mathematical terms
and phrases. You must also encourage
students to verbalize and defend their
answers.
NCTM 4. Solve problems
recommends Problem solving is the heart of mathematics. Students
that must be exposed to a variety of problems – problems
mathematics that vary in context, in level of difficulty and in
teachers enable mathematical methods required for their solutions.
students to: Students must learn to analyze the conditions in a
problem, to restate them, to plan strategies for solving
it, to develop several solutions, and to work
collaboratively with others in search of the solution.
NCTM recommends 5. Develop confidence
that mathematics Taking pride in one’s
teachers enable competence in mathematics is
students to: all-important. Sadly, a number of
people find it fashionable to
boast of their incompetence in
mathematics. To go further in
mathematics, students must
develop confidence in their
ability to learn and do
mathematics. Such confidence is
built on success in mathematical
tasks in the classroom.