The push to apply concepts to practices got a jump-start in 1989 when the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics issued guidelines for math teachers. They were, said Lee V. Stiff, council president, partially a re sponse to American students scoring lower than foreign counterparts in math skills. We want them to be able to understand the concepts. Pressure also came from businesses hungry for workers who understand math and know how to use it. With technology exploding around the globe, the United States must find ways to teach students to think mathematically, said Linda Rosen, senior adviser in math and science to U.S. Education Secretary Richard W. Riley.
Everyday decisions require it.
The American workplace demands it. The global economy and our national security rely on it. The commission, chaired by former astronaut John Glenn, called on American teachers to abandon old-style math drills and embrace techniques including collaboration that are used by the Japanese. In Japan, students work in small groups on a mathematics problem to come up with a solution and then discuss the answers. It teaches them to solve mathematical problems by applying them to their lives, he said.