Build Your Self-Confidence!

Build Your Self-Confidence!


To be mathematically confident means to realize the
importance of mathematics and feel capable of learning to

* Use mathematics with ease;

* Solve problems and work with others to do so;

* Demonstrate strong reasoning ability;,

* See more than one way to approach a problem;

* Apply mathematical ideas to other situations; and

* Use technology.


The Basics



You may have noticed that we are talking about
"mathematics"--the subject that incorporates numbers, shapes,
patterns, estimation, and measurement, and the concepts that
relate to them. You probably remember studying
"arithmetic"--adding, subtracting, multiplying, and
dividing--when you were in elementary school. Now, children are
starting right away to learn about the broad ideas associated
with math, including problem solving, communicating
mathematically, and reasoning.

Kindergartners are building bar graphs of birthday cakes
to show which month has the most birthdays for the most
children in the class. Second graders are using pizzas to learn
fractions, and measurements are being taken using items other
than rulers (for example, the illustrator of this book used his
thumb to determine how large the pictures of the pizzas should
be in proportion to the size of the words on the activities
pages).


What Does It Mean To


* Be a Problem Solver,

* Communicate Mathematically, and

* Demonstrate Reasoning Ability?

A problem solver is someone who questions, investigates,
and explores solutions to problems; demonstrates the ability to
stick with a problem for days, if necessary, to find a workable
solution; uses different strategies to arrive at an answer;
considers many different answers as possibilities; and applies
math to everyday situations and uses it successfully.

To communicate mathematically means to use words or
mathematical symbols to explain real life; to talk about how
you arrived at an answer; to listen to others' ways of thinking
and perhaps alter their thinking; to use pictures to explain
something; to write about math, not just give an answer.

To demonstrate reasoning ability is to justify and explain
one's thinking about math; to think logically and be able to
explain similarities and differences about things and make
choices based on those differences; and to think about
relationships between things and talk about them.