MATHEMATICS EDUCATION PHILOSOPHY
of
The Edison Community College’s Mathematics Department

The Mathematics Department at Edison Community College commits itself to the development of life long learners who have the ability to assess and improve their own performance in our content area. Learning, thinking, problem solving, communicating, and assessing are processes to be developed and continually improved by students as they construct knowledge. To enhance these processes we strive to incorporate active learning, conceptual learning, and problem solving into each mathematical experience.

Our philosophy is consistent with the well accepted idea that learning is an active process. Piaget’s theory holds that all learning comes from our active engagement of the world about us, both the physical and mental worlds. Therefore, as we incorporate active learning into our math experiences, we should encourage the free exchange of ideas, especially new ideas or new uses of old ideas. These active learning experiences should increase the students’ appreciation of the value of learning while developing interpersonal communicating skills and assessing skills.

From the work of Piaget we know that we learn by forming organizational structures from previous knowledge. Ultimately we form structures that allow us to create new structures at an abstract level Piaget calls formal reasoning. Conceptual learning encourages the interconnection of ideas and concepts as a tool to solve problems. Conceptual learning requires open-mindedness and a willingness to view situations in a variety of ways, thus enabling the student to appreciate the process and structure of mathematics.

Mathematics is problem solving. While problem solving includes learning the algorithms and formulas necessary for computations, it requires much more than this. Problem solving also requires the student to critically look at a problem, determine what is being asked, gather the appropriate information, devise a plan to use the information, implement the plan to find a solution, and verify that the solution is reasonable. We should incorporate into our instruction activities that allow our students to practice these activities.

Technology is encouraged in whatever ways it increases the understanding of mathematics. Technology is viewed as a tool that by its very nature requires active learning. It also can enhance problem solving because it can add a dimension often overlooked. Technology can increase conceptual learning as long as it is used as a tool and not a crutch.

A phrase that captures the essence of the above philosophy is "to learn mathematics is to do mathematics." Such a philosophy should be reflected in the types of questions we ask and the type of tasks we expect our students to engage. Clearly our prime directive is to help the student become a learner and a problem solver in our subject area. There are many ways to accomplish this directive, but our activity, whatever form it takes, should be measured by this one directive.