Week+5

**Adam’s article and Chapter 2 **
====Reading through Melissa Adams’ article made me realize how closely related math and science are. Of course every subject can have a connection as long as we relate them, but I noticed that the vocabulary that Adams encourages us to use from the NCTM standards for math are the same ones used in science classes. This opened my eyes to change my perspective on the way to run a math class. Math should be investigative and allow students to search for an answer by using various methods, not just one. Particularly since math has a lot of patterns, students can easily find plenty of ways to solve problems. Just like it is presented in Adams’ article, every student showed his/her work differently to the same questions that were presented. Chapter two went hand in hand with the article because it justifies what math is, or should be. It provides examples to work out on your own and then you can read the approaches offered in the text. I liked this because there were some problems that I solved a different way than what the book said and my way could have probably been a more difficult one. Another thing I liked was that the answers were not given. Even though math is not like reading, where you can find various answers to the same question, the process of finding the solution can be a plethora of distinct methods. This was a wonderful way to push the idea of seeing math as an investigative process to finding a result! Chapter two also presented a couple of methods that can be applied to mathematical problems. These are very basic and easy to teach to children so they can adapt them to their work. Lastly, chapter two described two theories that help understand how people learn math. Not too long ago, maybe two semesters before the current one, I began to read more about the constructivist theory, which is not a new one. I can not believe why the schools have kept it hidden for so many years! Students immediately feel more inspired to learn and open their minds about things they might dislike about school. The best and most important thing is that its title is just what it is - construct. Students construct new information from prior experiences or new ones with the help of the teacher. ====