The CMP materials, for both student and teacher, are designed in ways that help students and teachers build a different pattern of interaction in the classroom. The CMP materials try to support a teacher and students in building a community of learners that are mutually supportive as they work together to make sense of the mathematics. We do this through the tasks that are provided, the justification that students are asked to provide on a regular basis, the opportunities to talk about and write about their ideas, and the help for the teacher in both alternative forms of assessment and using a problem-centered instructional model in the classroom. Environment What students learn is fundamentally connected to how they learn it. The environment in which students learn affects their views of what mathematics is, how one learns it, and perhaps of more importance, their views of themselves as learners of mathematics.
Environment means more than the physical surroundings.
It includes the messages that students are given about what is expected of them. Environment encompasses considerations of tasks and discourse and the emotional climate of the classroom. In the teacher materials, ideas from the many teachers that have used CMP during the trials are included to give ideas about how to begin to establish an environment that supports students taking more responsibility for making sense of mathematics. Change is hard. Students may not like mathematics, yet may still resist any attempts of the teacher to change the culture of the classroom.