Haylee Singleton How Students Reason

Haylee Singleton Literature Review

Title: Looking at How Students Reason

Author: Marilyn Burns

Source: http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el200511_burns.pdf

Summary:

Marilyn Burns explains that instead of making sure that students get the right answers, teachers need to make sure the students can explain and give reasons of how they got the answer.  This needs to be accomplished through both verbal discussion and written responses.  She lists a few ways to assess and help students reasoning

-          Look at mathematical situations from different perspectives, for example as a word problem and a numerical problem

-          Incorporate reasoning into the discussions and written assignments

-          Help students to be flexible in mathematical thinking

-          Make assignments adjustable to reach all learners

-          Ask for more than one strategy

-          Have students justify other students reasoning

-          Call on all learners those who know the answers and those who don’t

Analysis:

This article on understanding student reasoning is going to make me change how I prepare and teach my lessons.  I am going to ensure lessons include many different ways of assessing student reasoning.  Not just looking if the student answered correctly. I want to ensure I understand the “why” behind students’ answers so that corrections can be made where needed. This will help me to better understand where concepts need to be clarified and also where I can push children.