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Reasoning & Proving Mathematics

The reasoning process supports a  deeper understanding of mathematics  by enabling students to make sense of the mathematics they are learning. The process involves  exploring  phenomena,  developing  ideas, making mathematical  conjectures , and  justifying  results. Teachers draw on students’ natural ability to reason to help them learn to reason mathematically. Initially, students may rely on the viewpoints of others to justify a choice or an approach. Students should be encouraged to reason from the  evidence  they find in their  explorations  and  investigations  or from what they already know to be  true , and to recognize the characteristics of an  acceptable argument  in the mathematics classroom. Teachers help students  revisit conjectures  that they have found to be true in one context to see if they are always true. For example, when teaching students in the junior grades about decimals, teachers may guide students to revisit the conjecture that multiplication always makes t
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If Math Was An Animal...

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Many teachers, including me, ask students to write on this topic so that I can understand their comfort, apprehensions and fears about learning Math. So I thought to take a trip back in my memory lane, and see how I felt about learning Math as a student. It surely was my most feared subject. So for me, as a student, if math was an animal, it would be a python. It scared the hell out of me. I felt that Math will wrap its coil around me and suffocate me to death. It coiled all the time so I could not see the head or tail of it. And guess what, I am quite an ophidiophobic! So I was always anxious, failed many tests as I never studied. I never studied it because I never understood it. I never understood it because I am a visual-kinesthetic learner, and teaching of it with blackboard and white chalk did not trigger my imagination. So Math kept slithering and I kept sliding down and under until one day I had to teach it to my grade 5. Ah, all the anxiety crept up, the fear of failing
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How Reading Affects Math

- A Critical Skill for Learning Math As and how my experience in teaching grows, my struggle with teaching reading grows too. With each progressing year, the number of readers is decreasing. And along with the number of readers, the number of thinkers and problem solvers is also falling. Yes, their reading skills are directly proportional to problem-solving skills. After numerous parent teacher interviews over the years, I feel that many parents treat math and language as separate subjects, and they d not see any co-relation between the two. They are very happy to see high math grade, and not enough attention is paid to falling reading grade; it is simply dismissed with a comment stating that their child does not like to read. Reading skills Math does not affect learning basic concepts and computation in Math. But the moment we talk about the application of the skills and concepts learned in problem-solving, the struggle begins. This is my sixth year teaching junior school, and i
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As Reading Skills Fade...

As Reading Skills Fade As and how my experience in teaching grows, my struggle with teaching reading grows too. Every year I wish for at least about five students in my class who love to read and challenge themselves. But every year, the number of readers is decreasing. And along with the number of readers, the number of thinkers and problem solvers is also falling. Yes, there reading skills are directly proportional to problem solving skills. Many parents treat math and language separately. They are very happy to see high math grade, and not enough attention is paid to falling reading grade. In primary grades, it may not matter that much as the students are learning basic concepts and computation in math. The moment the students enter junior school, where they are expected to apply the skills and concepts learnt, the struggle begins. This is my sixth year teaching junior school, and in my experience, students rush to solve the math problems, many times without even reading the giv
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