Number Sense and Nonsense: Building Math Creativity and Confidence Through Number Play

Number Sense and Nonsense: Building Math Creativity and Confidence Through Number Play — page 7
concepts remains with a person over the years As I write these words educators and the public are caught in a dilemma On one side are parents who feel that their children are being shortchanged because many of the current math programs do not call for extensive drill on multiplication tables and addition facts the so called basics On the other side are those who object to the kind of rote learning advanced by the older math programs still used in many schools and by teachers who teach as they have been taught using drill and kill methods With the increasing emphasis on standardized test scores teachers are pressured to spend a great deal of time drilling for tests in spite of the fact that research shows that when children learn the basics in the course of doing challenging math work they are far better prepared to cope with new ideas than if they had learned by rote memorization methods This book focuses on numbers their characteris tics and relationships applications of numbers in society and the history of number systems As rec ommended in the NCTM Standards 2000 readers also make connections to geometry and other branches of mathematics they develop skills in esti mation and problem solving they generalize about patterns of numbers and they are encouraged to engage in discussions with peers and adults see pages 139 140 This book provides a model for cre ativity and independence in the learning of mathe