Mahesh Sharma's Center for Teaching and Learning Mathematics
Mathematics Education Webinars
Free for teachers, parents, and curriculum coordinators.
By Professor Mahesh Sharma
Assisted by: Dr. Deb Winings in the UK and Sanjay Raghav in India.
As we expect every child to read fluently with comprehension by the end of third grade, we should expect and work diligently toward, every child's mastery of numeracy with understanding by the end of fourth grade. With basic numeracy, all children can learn mathematics easily, effectively, and efficiently, and can appreciate math's reach, power, and beauty.
Math education in the school curriculum is about number concepts, number sense, and building the brain for numeracy and beyond. We must make it easier for students to understand and develop mathematical ways of thinking and communicating.
Children can access basic and high-level mathematics once they achieve numeracy through systematic instruction and practice, and strategic training in mathematical reasoning and communication.
Our brain is biologically wired for oral language and estimating the size of a collection of few objects. The brain is not wired for reading, writing, number processing, and math procedures.
In order to successfully read, write, and calculate procedurally, the human brain must re-purpose regions biologically designed for other purposes. The brain must develop specialized neurons, new circuits and connections, specifically attuned to oral and written language, and mathematical thinking. Processing efficiencies eventually delelop within these newly formed neural connections; the result is what neuroscientists call, functional connectivity. It can be done.