Students who need more time to develop basic computational skills will not be prevented from engaging in these complex and rewarding tasks. Instead they will use manipulatives, calculators, and computers to do speedy calculations as they use their reasoning skills to determine what types of operations are appropriate for the problem at hand. Computational skills will still be an expected outcome of instruction, but students will realize that they can create their own patterns of computations that represent their own lines of reasoning. This approach acknowledges that some students construct computational knowledge more slowly than other students. Often students require a meaningful application before they are motivated to succeed at computational skills.
All children are capable of learning at high levels.
All mathematical reasoning requires a basic understanding of numeracy, measurement tools, exact or estimated computations, how the symbols relate to physical patterns, geometric relationships, and the relative certainty of predictions that we can make. These skills should be taught side by side every year of school. Algebraic, geometric, and statistical thinking require application of the basic numeracy concepts. If students understand how number systems work and what they represent they will apply these basic understandings at every level of mathematics. The content of all math courses should reflect and build upon these connections.