“Mathematics is more than skills … it is also the excitement of discovery.” This is how Derek Holton, one of the contributing authors to this book, defines mathematics. His enthusiasm and energy are echoed throughout by many of the other writers.
This is a book to delight mathematics teachers at all stages: experienced and inexperienced; specialists and nonspecialists. The authors bring research and practice together to inform, stimulate and challenge the mathematical thinking of classroom teachers and to encourage them, and give them confidence, to extend their teaching practice.
Topics covered in this first volume of Teaching Secondary School Mathematics and Statistics include:
- problem solving;
- investigative mathematics;
- how students learn maths;
- pedagogical content knowledge;
- students’ misconceptions and strategies for solving algebraic equations;
- algebra word problems;
- digital technologies and learning;
- the language of mathematics;
- gifted and talented students;
and much more. The book is structured to give opportunities for thinking beyond the text through the inclusion of focus questions and points to ponder in each chapter. There are also many practical ideas which are ready for use in the classroom.
It is a valuable resource for those working in preservice, a marvellous toolkit for new graduates, and has a place in every mathematics department’s bookshelf.
Robin Averill is Curriculum Leader: Mathematics and Statistics Education at Victoria University of Wellington. She has also taught in secondary schools and written a range of secondary school mathematics resources.
Roger Harvey has taught mathematics in secondary schools and now works in preservice teacher education at Victoria University of Wellington. He has a particular interest in developing preservice teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge.