Children of today not only require computational skills, they are required to acquire problem solving skills and to be able to think critically so that they may reason out their findings. Another challenge is, for them to be able to make reflection on both their ideas and others' ideas as well.
To allow young children to develop the understanding of the Mathematical Concepts in a FUN way, early childhood educators need to
- provide the conducive classroom environment.
- give equal exposure to conceptual understanding and procedural fluency vice-versa
- encourage their children to actively participate in problem solving, and be fully engaged to communicate their ideas, reasoning out and make connections.
- use technology as a tool to enhance their understanding.
- incorporate multiple assessments aligned with instructional goals and practices.
- Mathematics authority that lies within the power of sound reasoning and mathematical integrity(NTCM,2007,p.7)
We were reminded of some verbs that require higher level of thinking, and encompass"making sense" and "figuring out". Some examples are explore, investigate,, justify, construct, formulate etc.
