It is important to appreciate learning for the sake of the learning. History shows that pure knowledge does pay in the long run. Every student has his own way of thinking. NM mentor always encourages independence of thought. The student always has the right to use his own methods, as long as he gets the correct results consistently.
Every student needs to learn how to learn independently.
Reading math texts, working on scientific projects and creative problem solving are some of the methods used in the NM project to teach students how to learn. NM materials are created in a way that allows students to discover for themselves a lot of the concepts, some mathematical notation and most of the algorithms. Then more and more layers of understanding are gradually added as student learns and matures, and the picture gets in focus. The way of presentation changes with the age of the student, of course. Students are to be respected and treated gently.