| The changing philosophy towards how students learn mathematics has rekindled the confrontation between investigative and traditional pedagogical camps. Labelled the math wars, both groups are blaming the other for the poor mastery of basic mathematical skills as indicated by student assessment scores. Societal, educational researcher and student views of the basic skills issues are presented. Acknowledging that each student may learn in a different way and at a different rate, the performance and mastery type students are examined metacognitively. A number of sample pedagogical practices that reflect the philosophy of this project have been chosen for presentation. A coordinate geometry project, moulded with ideas of mathematics learning as advocated by the Atlantic Provinces Education Foundation (APEF), is presented which reflects the conviction that both constructivist and traditional ideologies of mathematics should be a balanced part of student learning. |
