Running head: Student Centered Mathematics 1

Student Centered Mathematics: All Students are Math Students

Jennah Jacobs

Manhattan College
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Abstract

Modern mathematics education causes many students to become disenfranchised with

mathematics. This paper looks at a new way of teaching math that will give students more

control over their learning through student lead discussion and real world projects. In creating a

more student focused classrooms, teachers not only instill the importance of mathematics, but

also utilize techniques that help students better remember the concepts for a longer period of

time than traditional teaching.

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Modern math classes focus on the memorization of theorems as opposed to the

understanding and comprehension of ideas. On any given day, in any given classroom, the

procedure of the class will most likely be a busy work activity while all the students settle down,

either homework check or just submission, a lecture accompanied by a PowerPoint, and finally a

worksheet that students will work on until the end of the period. Students memorize formulas

and steps with the purpose passing the test and then forgetting the informtion. This leads to the

first quarter reteach period when teachers have to reteach the students everything they should

have learned in the past. The modern math pedagogy is broken, students retain little from year to

year and when they graduate, they lose most of the higher level formulas that they view as

invalid in their lives. I propose that a new pedagogy be created that focuses on the student

instead of the content.

With this new pedagogy, teachers will start the school year with an assessment of the

students. This assessment should not only gauge the students’ mathematic abilities, but also their

interests. Teachers will then use these interests in their lesson as a way to “hook” the students

and excite them about learning the math (Barron, 2016). By showing students that the math that

they are learning directly impacts them and their futures, teachers can not only encourage

learning, but also cultivate enthusiasm about math. Enthusiasm about the topic encourages

students to do deeper research which helps the student remember the topic long after the

summative assignment. In addition, student interest should be the basis of summative

assignments. Students should use their knowledge to create a project that exemplifies their

learning. In doing this, the teacher allows the students to see the real world application of math

while utilizing their creativity to apply their knowledge. This also allows students who struggle
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with test, whether because of a language barrier or test anxiety, to show that they do indeed

understand the concepts.

In addition to utilizing students’ interests in the teaching of math, teachers should allow

students to see what they can find out on the topic on their own. We live in the technological age

where information can be found with the click of a button. In addition to allowing the students to

learn the information independently, this method allows the teacher to gauge what the students

view as important. Students will start the lesson with a baseline knowledge and will have

questions that they will share on the first day that will propel the lessons forward. Instead of

creating daily lessons, to best utilize this method, teachers need to create big ideas that will be

taught over a period of times (Ferlazzo, 2016).This method will allow the students to better

explore the topic than daily lessons do. The flexibility of this method also allows the teacher to

focus on areas in which the students are struggling because the idea is planned to be taught over

a number of days. By building the lessons around the students’ questions, the teacher is able to

focus on the learning of the students instead of focusing on the memorization of the concept.

In addition to starting the section with student research, each class should start with a

review of the previous night’s homework. This review should be student led with them choosing

the questions to review and them answering one another’s questions. In addition, disagreements

in answers should be solved using mathematical argumentation and proofs (Anthony & Walshaw,

2009). Teachers should utilize this time as a way to encourage the students’ use of mathematical

language in addition to improving their mathematical reasoning skills. The job of the teacher

during this part of the class should only be to encourage all students to participate in addition to

helping the discussion remain civil. While some may view this as a waste of time and believe

that the teacher should be in charge of showing the correct solutions and how to achieve them,
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this process helps by showing the students that they can do math in addition to creating a more

student centric environment. In the beginning of the year, this class time will be slow with

students pushing boundaries, but as the year progresses, the students will start to see that this is a

time where they can take charge of their own education. This process also serves as a formative

assessment of the students’ reasoning and explanation skills as they apply to the topic. In

encouraging the students to not only take charge but also work together, this group review puts

the educational focus squarely on the students.

After this, the teacher should present questions that will help students grasp the day’s

concept. These questions can include questions that the students had previously asked, but all

questions should be short and vague (Meyer, 2013). An example of a vague question would be

asking how long it will take to fill up a bucket of water instead of asking how long it will take to

fill up a gallon bucket if the rate of the water is 2 cups per a second. The teacher can use visual

representations to stimulate the discussion. Students should not be given direct data until they

reach a point where they recognize that they need it. The data given should be only what the

students request. For example, if a problem is to solve for volume and the students ask for the

height, the teacher should only provide the students with the height. In addition, the teacher

should never give the students the formula to solve the problem. In higher level classes, the

teacher can provide a formula sheet at either the beginning of the term or at the beginning of a

unit, but it should contain a variety of formulas, including some that they will be using, but not

all of them. If the students can discover the formula through problem solving, it is not necessary

to be placed on the formula sheet. Also, the teacher should provide a student created formula

sheet for each class. These formulas can be created from the students research before the unit and

formulas found through the exploration of the unit. Through doing this, the students have to
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work in order to discover the solution which will increase the likelihood that the information is

retained. This strategy also helps encourage patience in problem solving, a skill that is very

useful in daily life.

For the final part of class, students should be given a set of real world problems that both

reinforce that day’s subtopic and encourages thinking for the next day. These problems should be

mostly word problems. In addition, all problems should require a proof defending the answer,

because showing work is not enough. The requirement of the proof not only prevents students

copying work, it also encourages higher level thinking. Students should be given time in class to

work on this assignment, but should still have some to do at home. While students work on the

problems during the class period, and even if they stop in with questions after class, the teacher

should provide not mathematical help at all. In his Ted Talk, Dan Finkel said “thinking happens

when we have time to struggle”, so let them struggle (2010). Remind students that they are not

expected to have it perfect, as long as they can defend the solution they have, it is a success. The

purpose of these problems is to have the students think. These problems also serve as a way to

conquer the word problem aversion that many secondary students have in addition to

encouraging mathematical writing. Requiring the students to be able to defend their work

encourages confidence in their mathematic skills, even when they get the problem wrong, the

teacher and the class can look at their defense and see where they made a misstep and use it as a

whole class lesson.

In addition to changing the way that the classes are held, teachers need to change the way

students are assessed. Instead of test, projects are a better evaluation of student knowledge for

the reasons that have been previously stated. In addition, formative assessment should focus on

real world scenarios in a way that requires probative thinking. While test should be given as limit
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as possible, checkpoint quizzes can prove beneficial if students are preparing for a standardized

test. In addition, a cumulative review lesson that focuses on the test taking skills can be held in

the weeks preceding the test. Since the format of the lessons that were taught focus on

mathematical reasoning and patience problem solving, the students will be more adaptable to

using their knowledge in a testing format than if the reverse had happened (Meyer, 2013).

Many in society believe that education should remain unchanged, but since the world is

changing and education is preparing our children for the world, then shouldn’t education change

with it? By changing our math educational system from content focused to student learning

focused, we better prepare our students for the real world problems that they will face. Through

the use of student lead learning and real world problems, we not only teach the students math

skills, but also patience, co-operation, and reasoning skills that will serve them even outside of

the field of math. So, while not every student will go into a math heavy field, every student is a

math student.
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Works Cited

Anthony, G., & Walshaw, M. (2009). Effective pedagogy in mathematics. INTERNATIONAL

ACADEMY. Belley: Gonnet Imprimeur.

Barron, L. (2016). A Self-Study in Secondary Mathematics Pedagogy and Formative Assessment:

Could I Practice What I had Preached? Mānoa: University of Hawaiʻi of Mānoa.

Ferlszzo, L. (2016, December 27). Response: Best Practices for Teaching High School Math.

Retrieved November 12, 2018, from Education Week Teacher:

https://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/classroom_qa_with_larry_ferlazzo/2017/12/response_b

est_practices_for_teaching_high_school_math.html

Finkel, D. (2010, October 9). Five Principles of Extraordinary Math Teaching. Seattle,

Washington, United States.

Meyer, D. (2013, April 27). Math Class Needs A Makeover. Brooklyn, New York, United States.