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There is constant talk of goals in education. At the forefront are the Year 2000 Goals, the United States' plan to regain its position as number one in the world in educational achievement. These goals cover all aspects of the curriculum, from arts to socialization to science and mathematics. In this two-part article, the specific Year 2000 Goal for science and mathematics is discussed, including the specific objectives for mathematics achievement. This week: a look at the overall goal for mathematics achievement and four of the objectives involved in achieving the goal.
By the year 2000, the students of the United States will be the first in the world in mathematics and science achievement. In order to achieve this goal, objectives and standards needed to be established. With the successful completion of the standards and objectives, education professionals feel that the students in the United States will rise to first place in the world. The objectives of the Mathematics Goal are: · Mathematics education, including the metric system of measurement, will be strengthened throughout the system, especially in the early grades; · The number of teachers with a substantive background in mathematics, including the metric system of measurement, will increase by 50 percent. · The number of United States undergraduate and graduate students, especially women and minorities, who complete degrees in mathematics will increase significantly. In order to successfully achieve these goals, standards within the goals were determined. These standards were further broken down into sub-standards, broken down by grade level. The standards are: 1. Uses a variety of strategies in the problem-solving process. · Within this standard, achievement at grade level is as follows: Primary (grades k-2) - Draws pictures to represent problems - Uses discussions with teachers and other students to understand problems. - Explains to others how she or he went about solving a numerical problem. - Makes organized lists or tables of information necessary to solve a problem. - Uses whole number models (ex. blocks) to represent problems. Upper Elementary (grades 3-5) - Uses a variety of strategies to understand problem situations. - Represents problems situations in a variety of forms. - Understands that some ways of representing a problem are more helpful than others. - Uses trial and error and the process of elimination to solve problems. - Knows the difference between pertinent and irrelevant information when solving problems. - Understands the basic language of logic in mathematical situations. - Uses explanations of the methods and reasoning behind the problem solution to determine reasonableness of and to verify results with respect to the original problem. |
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