Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Chapter 2 Discussion Prompt
In the first YMAW blog group, we discussed Models as Tools for Thought (p. 32 in this book). We know that visual models serve as representations of our students' thinking; however, the language associated with those models can give us an even more powerful window into how students use the models as well as their levels of abstraction. At the intermediate level, how can we use visual models + language to help our students build meaning?
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The language students use to explain their thinking gives us insight into their processes of composing and decomposing. With the combination of a visual model as reference and a verbal explanation, students are able to show/tell us how they are thinking mathematically. We can analyze misconceptions and provide additional questions for further thought.
ReplyDeleteIn the text, it states that mathematics should be thought of as, "schematizing, structuring, and modeling the world mathematically." (p.28) This perspective welcomes the discussion and verbal expression of mathematics as well as the visual.
Thanks for your comment, Jen. I see language as the "bridge" from students' concrete and visual representation to their developing abstract, symbolic reasoning. The more we can create contexts where students have opportunities to draw and/or interpret visuals and then talk about how those visuals depict their mathematical thinking, the better!
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