Private Universe - Workshop 4 - Thinking like a Mathematician

The main thing I took from this video was the importance of engaging your students in the lessons, especially in mathematics. It is easy to present information to a group of students from a textbook and in a lecture format. With this approach a majority of the students will "check out" and that is when behavioral problems will occur. In classrooms where math instruction has changed to hands-on, inquiry based instuction, students are taught that there is more to solving problems than simply getting the right answerand the students are more engaged. This approach of inquiry also allows the less confident students to realize they may more know than they originally thought they did. If this type of instruction begins early in the grade levels students would develop more confidence in their mathematical abilities. Teaching that moves from the traditional - teacher has the answers and tells the students who is right and/or wrong to an inquiry-based learning environment the students develop more confidence in their abilities to learn.