The Nueva School's Innovative Learning Conference

Teaching mathematics by telling students facts and procedures may be an easy instructional method for teachers. However, when students are passively listening to teachers, their opportunities to understand mathematical concepts and procedures and to develop mathematical competencies are not maximized. As the Common Core State Standards emphasizes, students need to develop mathematical practice through active involvement in mathematics — by doing mathematical activities and solving problems — rather than just listening to teachers talk. Influenced by US publications of problem-solving, including Polya’s How to Solve It (1945) and NCTM's An Agenda for Action: Recommendations for School Mathematics of the 1980s (1980), Japanese researchers and teachers worked collaboratively to develop an approach to promote mathematical thinking and problem solving: “mondai-kaiketsu gakusyuu,” which means “teaching through problem solving” (TTP). This session will use some of the examples from Japanese mathematics textbooks to discuss key features of TTP and how schools can use this approach to promote CCSS-M mathematical practice.