Thinking Like Mathematicians : Putting the NCTM Standards into Practice

Thinking Like Mathematicians has already helped thousands of math teachers envision what can happen if they implement the NCTM Standards. It reveals that, with the right teaching strategies and curricula, students can become confident, creative, and actively involved in the math process. They can actually think like mathematicians.

Some of the best strategies for achieving these goals are modeled throughout Thinking Like Mathematicians, which has now been updated for Standards 2000. Through vignettes and anecdotes, you'll meet children - many of whom were previously unsuccessful at math - who are problem solvers and confident of their ability to reason mathematically, value the role of mathematics in their lives, and share that understanding with their peers and teachers. You'll also meet the teachers who planned for and implemented the programs that facilitate these mathematics learning processes.

Specific chapters include discussions about Standards 2000, planning for a Standards 2000-based program, guidelines for implementing such a program, and modes of assessment and evaluation. A case study is presented of one dynamic child whose remarkable mathematical thinking might have been discouraged by a traditional classroom. The book concludes with a series of questions and answers that will help to explain recommended classroom practices.

Barbara Bourne has taught in a variety of early childhood programs, worked as an instructional designer for educational television programming, and written/coauthored/edited several teachers' guides and books. Bourne served as the program director for the Elementary Science Integration Project (ESIP) - a consortium of teachers investigating the connections among inquiry-based science, curricular integration, and child-centered teaching - and currently teaches in the education department at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.A former K-8 teacher, mathematics coordinator, and supervisor of mathematics, Thomas Rowan was a member of the working group that wrote the K-4 section of NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989). He was also named Outstanding Mathematics Educator by the Maryland Council of Teachers of Mathematics in 1980 and given the Glenn Gilbert annual leadership award of the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics in 1988. Currently, Rowan is consultant and lecturer for elementary mathematics methods courses at the University of Maryland, College Park.