Students need to construct their understanding of each mathematics concept so that the primary role of the teacher is to create the needed atmosphere for students that will Foster their making the necessary mental construction. The teacher’s task is to manipulate the learning environment to provide the best opportunity for the child’s knowledge and understanding to grow in desirable ways. The following general principles serve as a useful guide to the teacher in selecting teaching actions.
1.pupils can learn better when they are exposed or involved in practical activities and eventually discover things for themselves. Such activities help pupils learn mathematics better since they are personally involved(They DO mathematics). All pupils need some form of concrete experience. Older pupils may need fewer than younger ones and pupils of higher ability may need less than those of low ability but all pupils should have some.
- Teachers must use the correct communication to support pupils from concepts -practical discoveries, use of suitable teaching-learning materials, and examples. Methods of instruction should accommodate the natural thought processes of the pupils. Teachers should select appropriate experiences that will challenge pupils’ level of thought.
Ineffective work on part of the teacher leads to the fear if imperfectly done, there is the danger of learners misunderstanding the rest of the further concepts that use the first as a contributory one. Pupils should be assisted to build mathematical structures to make successive abstractions and easy and meaningful to them.
3.The presence of concrete learning experiences helps to bring meaning to the symbolic representations necessary to embody mathematical concepts. The desire learning sequence should be from concrete, manipulative experiences to semi-concrete and finally to abstract symbolic experiences. In every mathematics lesson, children should be allowed to DO, TALK about and RECORD their works.
- Pupils understand a concept when they can relate it to other concepts they already know. The learning of a higher-order concept can take place only after the lower-order concepts have been formed. The contributory concepts must be formed before new ones learn; that is, relying on pupils’ relevant previous knowledge. The examples that the teacher uses must be concepts the learner already knows.
