Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics - Softcover

Ma, Liping

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0805829091 ISBN 13: 9780805829099

Publisher: Routledge, 1999

Synopsis

Chinese students typically outperform U.S. students on international comparisons of mathematics competency. Paradoxically, Chinese teachers receive far less education than U.S. teachers--11 to 12 years of schooling versus 16 to 18 years of schooling.

Studies of U.S. teacher knowledge often document insufficient subject matter knowledge in mathematics. But, they give few examples of the knowledge teachers need to support teaching, particularly the kind of teaching demanded by recent reforms in mathematics education.


This book describes the nature and development of the "profound understanding of fundamental mathematics" that elementary teachers need to become accomplished mathematics teachers, and suggests why such teaching knowledge is much more common in China than the United States, despite the fact that Chinese teachers have less formal education than their U.S. counterparts.


The studies described in this book suggest that Chinese teachers begin their teaching careers with a better understanding of elementary mathematics than that of most U.S. elementary teachers. Their understanding of the mathematics they teach and--equally important--of the ways that elementary mathematics can be presented to students, continues to grow throughout their professional lives.


Teaching conditions in the United States, unlike those in China, militate against the development of elementary teachers' mathematical knowledge and its organization for teaching. The concluding chapter of the book suggests changes in teacher preparation, teacher support, and mathematics education research that might allow teachers in the United States to attain profound understanding of fundamental mathematics.

About this title

Review

"Both sides in the math wars claim Dr. Ma as their own. Districts have distributed her book to teachers. Its broad appeal offers some hope for common ground in math education...we will continue fights over whether children should be taught arithmetic rules or theory. What Dr. Ma shows is that we need both." -The New York Times "Ma's book is a significant contribution to mathematics education because it begins to tackle the important and complex question of 'what is mathematical knowledge for elementary teaching'. In doing so, she helps us to understand elementary mathematics as a complex and demanding subject that is to be taken seriously." -Contemporary Psychology "Elementary school teachers need as deep an understanding of the mathematics they teach as high school teachers need of what they teach. Both need a deep knowledge of the mathematics which comes in later grades, at least three or four, for this knowledge should influence how topics are taught." -Mathematicians and Educational Reform "Must reading for those who call for more mathematics and those who champion reform pedagogy in teacher education." -CHOICE "...Ma has done a masterful job of showing how the conceptual approach of Chinese elementary school teachers succeeds where the procedural approach of their American counterparts flounders...I highly recommend this brief volume to elementary school teachers who wish to improve their teaching of mathematics. I also recommend it to all university teacher educators who want their students to develop that 'profound understanding of fundamental mathematics' that allows Chinese students to outscore their American counterparts in international assessments." -Mathematics Teaching in the Middle Schools "The contributions of this book are multifaceted...This book is an excellent resource and will interest anyone involved in teaching preservice teachers, as well as researchers concerned with teachers' knowledge of content and methods." -Teaching Children Mathematics "Even beyond education, the book supports the need for, and indeed the educational benefits of, changing professional teaching conditions for U.S. teachers...it provides some food for thought for everyone involved in improving mathematics education. And it supports the necessity, highlighted in NCTM's Standards documents, that even at the elementary school level, students can, and should, learn challenging mathematics." -NCTM News Bulletin "For all who are concerned with mathematics education...Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics is an important book. For those who are skeptical that mathematics education research can say much of value, it can serve as a counterexample. For those interested in improving precollege mathematics education in the U.S., it provides important clues to the nature of the problem. An added bonus is that, despite the somewhat forbidding educationese of its title, the book is quite readable...I recommend this book!" -Notices of the AMS "Ma's work has been well received on both sides of the so-called math wars...Supporters of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) reform agenda are pleased by her stress on real understanding as opposed to mere computational competence." -American Scientist "...a book that is becoming a stealth hit for math junkies on both sides of the 'math wars,' and a must read for anyone interested in solving the problems of public schools." -The Christian Science Monitor Electronic Edition "The book is earning praise both from some of those who support changes proposed in the NCTM Standards and from some of those who oppose them, and it is sparking discussion. It is also helping to unify some disparate forces in mathematics education on at least a few ideas for continuing positive changes...[the book] provides some food for thought for everyone involved in improving mathematics education." -NCTM News Bulletin "Mathematical performance of children in countries in the west like the USA and the UK is a constant source of concern when comparisons are made with achievements in countries in the Far East and Eastern Europe. Liping Ma's book provides valuable insights into possible explanations for this disparity--and these have obvious implications for the training of mathematics teachers in any country." -British Journal of Educational Technology "Liping Ma's work has given me hope about what can be done to improve mathematics education." -Richard Askey, University of Wisconsin-Madison "This is indeed a valuable, enlightening book. It attests to the talent of its author, and to the Chinese and American learning environments that have nurtured that talent. It attests to the value of welcoming scholars from other nations to study in the United States. I urge all those who are seriously concerned about the quality of mathematics education in the United States to read this book, and to take its lessons seriously." -Lee Shulman, President, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, From the Foreword "For all who are concerned with mathematics education in the U.S., Liping Ma has written an important book. It provides valuable clues to the nature of the problem of improving our K-12 mathematics education. An added bonus is that, despite the somewhat foreboding educationese of its title, it is quite readable. I recommend this book." -Roger Howe, Yale University "Must reading for those who call for more mathematics and those who champion reform pedagogy in teacher education." -Anna O. Graeber, University of Maryland-College Park "...both a graceful introduction (for mathematicians and other neophytes) to an important area of mathematics education and an interesting theoretical work in its own right. I recommend it highly." -Judith Roitman, University of Kansas

Synopsis

International studies of mathematics achievement find that students in some Asian countries, such as Japan and China, consistently outperform their counterparts in the United States. Researchers have described various factors that contribute to this "learning gap" (such as differences in cultural contexts, school organization, amount of time spent learning mathematics, content of mathematics curricula), but have not looked in much depth at the issue of teachers' mathematical and pedagogical knowledge. Could there be a parallel gap in teacher knowledge? If so, how does this affect mathematics teaching and learning? Liping Ma reports in this book on her study of the differences between Chinese and US teachers' knowledge of mathematics for teaching. She explores how Chinese teachers' understanding of mathematics and its teaching contributes to their student's success, documents some of the factors that support the growth of Chinese teachers' mathematical knowledge, and proposes that it seems difficult, if not impossible, for elementary teachers in the United States to develop a deep understanding of the mathematics they teach.

In a series of case studies of teachers' knowledge, Ma interviewed elementary mathematics teachers in the US and China about the way they would handle various mathematics topics. She found that US teachers may seem to "know" more about mathematics (they may have taken more courses, and have some understanding of more advanced concepts), but their understanding of the mathematics they teach is, in fact, much more shallow. On the other hand, Chinese teachers have a much deeper understanding of both the mathematics and the relevant pedagogy for teaching it. This, Ma's study suggests, is what lies at the core of the Chinese teachers' competence, and perhaps at the root of the Chinese students' superior performance on international comparison studies. Given the release of the Third International Maths and Science Study (TIMSS), this book speaks to the debates over issues raised by TIMSS. It illuminates cross-cultural comparisons - and may well shift the debate on "what counts" as good teaching.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0805829091
• ISBN 13: 9780805829099
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192