Chemical Education Today
Editorial
Mathematics Education Mathematics is fundamental to science because a great many aspects of science are best described and elucidated using mathematical tools. Lack of preparation in mathematics hampers many students’ efforts to learn science and prevents many other students from pursuing science at all. Consequently, mathematics education is important not only for mathematicians, but for all scientists. Of course it is even more important for students, because growth of jobs in science and engineering is outpacing overall job growth by 3:1 (1). In March of this year the National Mathematics Advisory Panel issued its final report (1). The report is mainly concerned with mathematics education in the pre-K through 8 levels and uses preparation for success in algebra courses as its main theme. The report notes that a sharp falloff in U.S. mathematics achievement begins around grade 8, both on internal measures such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and by comparison with other countries. This falloff corresponds with the beginning of course work in algebra, which the report considers to be “a demonstrable gateway to later achievement”. Because algebra and more advanced mathematics are crucial in the background of students taking chemistry, the panel’s recommendations are worthy of our scrutiny and potential support. The panel’s message involves six elements:
• Streamline the pre-K–8 curriculum to emphasize the most critical topics
• Use what is clearly known from rigorous educational research
• Recognize that the role of classroom teachers is crucial and find ways to attract, prepare, identify, and reward good teachers
• Balance student-centered and teacher-directed learning
• Improve the quality of NAEP and state assessments and increase their emphasis on critical knowledge and skills
• Continue to build capacity for rigorous educational research to inform policy and practice
The report envisions a “focused, coherent progression of mathematics learning, with an emphasis on proficiency with key topics”. The key topics involve whole numbers, fractions (including decimals, percent, and negative fractions), and aspects of measurement and geometry. Proficiency is defined as it was in an earlier report (2) to mean conceptual understanding, ability to do tasks like addition or subtraction without thinking, accurate execution of standard algorithms, ability to solve problems, and belief that mathematics is useful, worthwhile, and something that can be learned through diligent study. The report emphasizes the importance of teachers’ content knowledge and recommends that teachers have “ample opportunities to learn mathematics for teaching”. Mathematics for teaching is not just the mathematics that will be taught, but also includes more advanced topics and how these connect with what students are expected to learn. Value-added analyses based on learning gains instead of students’ absolute scores are recommended as the best way to evaluate teachers’ effectiveness. The report points out that U.S. mathematics textbooks are extremely long and that other countries where textbooks are much shorter outperform the U.S. One factor contributing
to the length is the need to Lack of preparation in meet diverse state standards for what should be taught in mathematics…prevents each grade. States are called on to collaborate to define many…students from more uniformly what content is appropriate at each pursuing science. grade level. The report also calls for changes in state and national examinations so that students are evaluated on the content the report has identified as most crucial. Finally, the report emphasizes the importance of “methodologically rigorous scientific research in…teaching and learning of mathematics”. In many cases, the panel found no rigorous research to support or refute a contention it was studying. More educational research that can be applied to specific issues is called for. To make this easier the panel requests streamlining of Institutional Review Board procedures for educational research deemed of low risk to students. All of this applies equally to chemistry. Instruction and learning should be based on the intellectual structure of the discipline and on pedagogical knowledge about order of topics. Students should be able to understand concepts, apply what they know to solving new problems, and come away with a feeling that chemistry is worthwhile and can be learned through diligent study. Teachers need background well beyond what they teach and those who improve student learning the most should be valued above those lucky enough to have excellent students. Textbooks and other learning materials could certainly be leaner if we agreed on the most important concepts and skills, decided where in the curriculum they should be taught, and taught each one thoroughly, once. Examinations (AP for example) do influence curriculum, so changing them will help a new approach be adopted. And using rigorous chemical education research to evaluate teaching and learning in support of new, more effective curricula is an excellent idea. Research with practical implications is exactly what this Journal wants to publish in our Chemical Education Research feature. Literature Cited 1. National Mathematics Advisory Panel. Foundations for Success: The Final Report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel; U.S. Department of Education: Washington, DC, 2008; available at http://www.ed.gov/mathpanel/ (accessed Jun 2008). 2. National Research Council. Adding It Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics; Kilpatrick, J., Swafford, J., Findell, B., Eds.; Mathematics Learning Study Committee, Center for Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. National Academy Press: Washington, DC, 2001; available at http:// www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=9822 (accessed Jun 2008).
Supporting JCE Online Material
http://www.jce.divched.org/Journal/Issues/2008/Aug/abs1019.html Full text (HTML and PDF) with links to cited URLs Blogged at http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/chemeddl/
© Division of Chemical Education • www.JCE.DivCHED.org • Vol. 85 No. 8 August 2008 • Journal of Chemical Education
1019
