Explain this
Brain-Compatible Mathematics
How the publisher describes it:
“Each brain is different, and when teachers teach problem-solving skills to help students arrive at their own solutions, students go beyond mere memorization of facts to being an actual participant in the development of mathematical understanding. In an informative and relevant approach, Diane Ronis presents teachers and mathematics co-ordinators with an emphasis on thinking, mathematical representation, and construction of ideas.”
Review by Peter Hall
In brief:
This is an interesting book with many good ideas - for both classroom ideas and for changing the way we view assessment. For those needing extra ideas for develop their teaching this is an ideal book.
“This book is a strong advocate of what we seem to be calling Assessment for Learning”
This book aims to ‘provide a way for teachers to ‘teach to the brain’ of every child by employing relevant, real-world inquiry units that challenge students to solve problems the way engineers, bankers, and architects do every day’. In other words it aims to integrate mathematics teaching within everyday situations. The author claims that students will learn better in this way.
The book opens with a chapter detailing the ways that performance-based instruction and assessment are an improvement on the previous ‘take a test at the end’ sort of assessment. In this respect this book is a strong advocate of what we seem to be calling Assessment for Learning.
Next the book details many activities which can be used with students, starting with materials appropriate for our year 1 students, moving through to material for our Key Stage 3 students.
Along the way much careful explanation is made of the multiple intelligence model and how to assess appropriately, how Bloom’s taxonomy can be helpful, six pillars of performance task development are explained - again these would be very compatible with an Assessment for Learning or an Accelerated Learning approach.
This is an interesting book with many good ideas - for both classroom ideas and for changing the way we view assessment. For those needing extra ideas for develop their teaching this is an ideal book.
Peter Hall • AST Mathematics, Imberhorne School, East Grinstead
Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: Corwin Press; Second Edition edition (2 Nov 2006)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1412939380
ISBN-13: 978-1412939386
Product Dimensions: 27.7 x 21.3 x 1.3 cm
