REASONING SKILLS: NEED IN TEACHING MATHEMATICS

KAREN SERRANO- SANCHEZ

Mathematics education prepares students to cope with real life successfully. It is necessary to equip students with an understanding and mastery of basic concepts and skills to live intelligently. Among several important intellectual skills, including inquiry and analysis, critical thinking, written and oral communication, information literacy and teamwork and problem solving, it is, not just Mathematics. Reasoning is also used in conjunction with these skills.

The development of intellectual skills is paramount today. It should be practiced, extensively across the curriculum in the context of progressively more challenging problem, project and standards for performance.

At present, mathematics curricula emphasize the process of reasoning as one of the key mathematical practices. Precisely thinking mathematically or working mathematically which refers to a collection of actions. Effective environment for nurturing mathematical reasoning can be created through deliberately choosing tasks and activities that require reasoning. The teacher’s role in providing opportunities to practice the tools and habits of reasoning is significant. (Herringer, 2015)

When IT professionals meet, they usually talk about the latest technology and engage in brainstorming. Physicians talk each other about latest research and to share one another their insights and expertise. Doesn’t make sense in teaching professionals should be holding similar conversations? They should draw collective expertise to move teaching and learning process forward. (Provitera, 2003)

Professional development is one of the factors in students’higher achievement. ( Capitol View) Hence, both instruction and achievement should enhance to achieve mathematical proficiency through curriculum itself. According to National Research Council of Washington DC., states that student’s progress toward proficiency in Mathematics requires major changes in instruction, curricula and assessment.

Nowadays, students can perform straightforward computational procedures but tend to have more limited understanding of fundamental mathematical ideas. Thus, applying mathematical skills to solve even simple problems is substantial.

Paramount (2013) gives 5 intertwined and equally important strands comprise the committees’definition of mathematical proficiency.

1. Students should be able to understand and apply important concepts, formulates, solve problems and explain their reasoning.

2. Confidence in their abilities and being sensible toward mathematics 3. Curriculum should link calculation to everyday situations to help students make connections.

4. Mathematics teachers should emphasize students; processes to understand the su b j ect ;

5. More time, high quality training as well as useful instructional materials (Education letter)

Hence, their minute-to-minute classroom decisions must take into account their students’ thinking.

In Mc Graw- Hills Everyday Mathematics research, a school Math Project helps students learn mathematical reasoning and develop strong math skills which focuses on using students’experiences, real- life and games, teaches basic skills as well as conceptual thinking (Anonymous, 2010)

The basic skills needed for the 21st century according to k- 12 curriculum in our country the critical thinking problem solving strategies, evaluation and analysis and creativity skills regarded as ‘higher order’. But seemingly, students will have the ability to develop and effectively use such skills if they are given opportunity to do so. Thus, it requires the students to reason out.

As children get older they become more self- conscious and inquisitive, asking a lot of questions and reasoning. Through with this students can convert ideas, gain deeper understanding of concept and ultimately enjoy Mathematics.

Vygotsky (1962) said that “speech as an expression of the process of becoming aware”. Becoming aware is the crux of learning and should be the focus of classroom instruction. In the classroom, the teacher becomes aware of students thinking as they explain their ideas. Helping students learn to reason from this perspective of mathematical discourse is a new image of teaching, however, and can be challenge. Teacher must create a learning environment in which students feel “safe” to express their thinking. These types of environments help children to engage in mathematical inquiry in which they explore and explain their thinking. (Steele 2000)

However, many students in general are not able to engage in Mathematics reasoning and this hinders their ability to elaborate and reconstruct problems, looking for inconsistencies in proposed solutions, make modifications to their approach, apply their current understanding in novel contexts and reflect on their processes (Kiuhara & Witzel, 2014). And so, teachers of the world let us identify our best practices for students to engage in articulating mathematics reasoning processes and contribute meaningfully on how students understand mathematics.

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The author is Teacher II at Northville High School