Brain-Compatible Mathematics
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 • Imberhorne School, East Grinstead
Brain-Compatible Mathematics
Diane Ronis
November 2006
Corwin Press (£25 Paperback, £54 Clothback)
ISBN 1-4129-3937-2 (Clothback) 1-4129-3938-0 (Paperback)
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