NSF Project Reflections

One common theme from the NSF curriculum reviews was about learning several math topics through problem solving and applications rather than focusing on one math topic at a time. I think approaching math in this way could address one of the issues that I see in mathematics education, which is students being unable to transfer the math skills they learn to solve problems. So far in my student teaching role this semester, I have been teaching math in a more traditional way. I had every intention of teaching problem solving and using guided discovery, but now that I'm in the classroom, I find it much more difficult than I anticipated. Now that I've become aware of how the NSF curriculums use problem solving as a base, I'm starting to develop a more realistic idea about how I might be to implement similar kinds of lessons within my school's traditional math curriculum.

As a future teacher, one of the main concerns I have about these curriculums is whether or not they will adequately prepare students for college level courses that are typically taught in a more traditional way. Few (in fact MATH 579 is the only exception) of my college level courses have been based on problem solving and applications. So I'm left wondering if we're setting students up for failure in the future without exposing them to more traditional methods of learning. On the other hand, if students learn to solve problems and apply math, perhaps they will easily adjust to college courses because of the way they learned math....