Primary Mathematics, TEACHING FOR UNDERSTANDING
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loginThis book has been written with the aim of promoting primary or elementary schoolteachers’ understanding of mathematics, both those at the beginning of their careersand those who have been teaching for some time. In turn, we hope that it willindirectly enhance the mathematical experience of pupils in the classroom. The fourauthors of the book work as teacher trainers in primary mathematics education, andhave a vested interest in improving the mathematical understanding of teachers.However, more than that, we also feel that we need to take a good look at what itmeans to understand mathematics. One of the existing problems we see with thesubject, certainly here in England where we work, is that it is seen as having simple‘right’ and ‘wrong’ answers. Therefore, in the classroom, teachers concentrate onmaking sure that children get the ‘right’ answer. However, we feel that this is toolimited a view, which can all too often lead to only teaching procedures in mathemat-ics. Instead, we should be concentrating on the various connections we can makewithin the subject. Being able to make more connections within and across differentmathematical topics will help us to check the answers that we get for calculations, toreapply the knowledge in different situations and to make new connections thatdevelop the way we think about the mathematics. Also, children come with their ownprior experience to the classroom, so taking into account the possible connections thatthey can already make can help us render mathematics more meaningful for children.Therefore, before we present the mathematical topics that make up this book, weintend to clarify our notion of understanding and the implications it has for ourmathematics teaching.
