A Look Inside an Investigations Classroom

An emphasis on mathematical thinking should be at the center of a mathematics

curriculum. What does this really mean?

� Children think for themsel v es about the mathematics they

do, rath er than simply applying learned p r ocedures and

definitio n s.

This often means that students work on

only one or two problems during a

class session � or perhaps are immersed in a single investigation for several

sessions.

� Children develop multiple way s to enter a mathem atical

problem.

There is no single approved way to solve a problem. When children have There is no single approved way to solve a problem. When children have

several ways of solving a problem, th ey can double-check their results by

using more than one approach. They ca n compare approaches with each other

and engage in serious discussions abo ut differences in their strategies and

their results.

� Children learn to keep tr ack of their m a th

ematical

strategies and communicate them in ways that make sense

to themselves and others.

� Children� s str a tegies bec o

me more and more efficient with

practice over time.

Children learn to�

� interpret solutions,

� determine whether they are reasonable solutions or not,

� and explain why it does

or does not make sense

These abilities are int e gral parts of mathematical problem solving.

Adapted from Beyond Arithmetic

By Jan Mokros, Susan Jo Russell, K a ren Economopoulos,

p. 28 (three of the aut hors of Investigations)

20 0 3 - 2 00 4\

Math\Inside an Investigations Cl assroom.doc

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