Mathematics Textbook Philosophy

“Developing conceptual understanding, acquiring procedural skills and knowing basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts are mutually supportive, each facilitating learning of the others and support effective and efficient problem solving.”
                                    National Math Panel (2008)

Following the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) beliefs and views about mathematics as a body of knowledge and about the learning processes that lead to mathematical understanding, Douglas County School District supports using “standards-based” mathematics textbooks.  These beliefs include:

• Mathematical literacy is essential to becoming an informed and competent citizen.
• All students can (and should) become mathematically literate, not just those students who have traditionally performed well in mathematics.
• Literacy involves understanding mathematical principles, developing mathematical ways of thinking, and developing fluency with number, geometry, and data.
• Students develop this literacy by actively doing mathematics – using their skills and knowledge to solve problems and investigate mathematical ideas.

Douglas County School District Board of Education has approved the use of mathematics textbooks in which the goals and values of the NCTM Standards play an integral part in the fundamental design of the text.  These features which support our goals include:

• Mathematical Content – ideas and skill that students should acquire during their K-12 mathematics education.
• Mathematical Process – processes that promote mathematical thinking including problem solving, communication, reasoning & proof, connections, and representations.
• Attitudes towards Mathematics
• Views of teaching and learning – emphasis placed on engaging students in doing mathematics to help them understand the why as well as the how of the mathematics studied

For further information about the mathematics textbook used at the elementary level, please go to the following links:

Everyday Mathematics:  http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/parents/index.shtml
Investigations in Number, Data, and Space:  http://investigations.terc.edu/families/
Math Expressions:  http://www.eduplace.com/parents/mthexp/
Bridges in Mathematics:  http://www.mathlearningcenter.org/approach/overview.asp
Math Thematics:  http://www.showmecenter.missouri.edu/showme/stem.shtml
Connected Mathematics:  http://connectedmath.msu.edu/parents/