Math Matters: Understanding the Math You Teach, Grades K-6

Rating:
Summary: thorough, if unexciting
Review: Conceptual, rather than procedural teaching of math--that is what this book tries to encourage. Although elementary math teachers can often (but not always) find the right answers for math problems, they overwhelmingly are ignorant as to WHY they follow steps spelled out in the procedure they learned so long ago. A teacher who does not know why cannot teach why. This makes for students floating in a permanent math fog. This book tries to fill the gap by laying out math basics--the mathematical principles behind the steps. I am a bit disappointed that no mention is made of the identity properties, but all in all, this book does a good, if sterile job. If you want to get EXCITED about understanding elementary math, you need to read Liping Ma's Knowing and Teaching Elementary Math.

Rating:
Summary: thorough, if unexciting
Review: Conceptual, rather than procedural teaching of math--that is what this book tries to encourage. Although elementary math teachers can often (but not always) find the right answers for math problems, they overwhelmingly are ignorant as to WHY they follow steps spelled out in the procedure they learned so long ago. A teacher who does not know why cannot teach why. This makes for students floating in a permanent math fog. This book tries to fill the gap by laying out math basics--the mathematical principles behind the steps. I am a bit disappointed that no mention is made of the identity properties, but all in all, this book does a good, if sterile job. If you want to get EXCITED about understanding elementary math, you need to read Liping Ma's Knowing and Teaching Elementary Math.