Deepening Mathematics Learning by Making Variation Available in Teaching

Abstract

Active engagement does not necessarily produce meaningful mathematical learning. It is not uncommon that in mathematics classrooms students seemed to be engaged in-class activities, be happy with what has been done, and everybody enjoyed the lessons, but the assessment revealed that students only learned some factual knowledge on the surface failing to apply the learned knowledge to solve related problems. What is the missing part of the puzzle? Students learn through experiencing the available content. Active engagement does not produce meaningful mathematical learning if some essence of content is missed. If we want our students to learn structured mathematics and be able to apply what have learned to a new situation or context, we must make this kind of learning content available in a mathematics classroom. transfer of learning will never happen without intentionally designed content. “What” needs to be learned should be always the starting and ending point of our teaching/learning design. This paper discusses the existing issue and proposes some pedagogical strategies to promote deep learning.