Richard R. Skemp's, "Relational Understanding and Instrumental Understanding" has touched the core of my heart as I am a Mathematics student as well as teacher. The issue of understanding Mathematics is discussed in the article; in a way that now I have got to know that why in my High school days I had so much trouble understanding the same. From those days I decided to become a Mathematics Teacher, so that I can make use of relational understanding to make my students comfortable with this subject. In my opinion the topics in Mathematics must be introduced through relational understanding. The story of seven years old boy with an I.Q. of 140 clearly tells the importance of relational understanding. My nephew having a high I.Q. level, felt shocked in his first week of attending Mathematics classes in Grade 8 being sick of instrumental understanding. In my opinion even the students with lower I.Q. should be taught through relational understanding. The article has successfully attained its aim to highlight the issues related with this subject.
Reference:
First Published in Mathematics Teaching, 77, 20-26, 1976.
No comments:
Post a Comment