Unit 1.1 – First Impressions (MMOC)

[Natasa Popadic]

As a fifth year university student and as an individual studying to become an educator I can say that the five math minds principles align with my current views about teaching and learning mathematics. Considering what I have come to learn about children and youth and their cognition I am able to understand how each of the principles are relevant in relation to the subject of mathematics. I think that each of the principles can be understood as allowing us to understand the complexities of young minds to a greater extent, while also highlighting the manners in which many of the principles, and key aspects of learning mathematics, are closely related and built off one another. With all that said, I was also able to recognize the fact that many of these principles seemed to be not understood or not used by my educators in the past. As a kid I remember often feeling completely bombarded with mathematics as I quickly felt myself getting lost in its complexities and endless steps and procedures. With this in mind, and knowing what I know now about children and youth, I find principles three and four to be of especially great importance as they really highlight the importance of understanding the mind and the ways in which it gathers and stores the information it is presented. In all subjects, but particularly mathematics, it is important to present material in ways that is accessible for young minds, allowing them to take reasonable steps, rather than climb mountains, in their journeys of becoming confident and secure in the subject of mathematics. In particular, principle four really opened my eyes to a new way of understanding cognition in relation to mathematics, as it forced me to understand change and newness in a new manner. Even if a change may appear small or irrelevant our attentions seems to be automatically drawn to it, with our minds then becoming hyper focused on this change, often times leaving us feeling stressed or lost in the process. In addition, I also found that principle five challenged my perspective on the world and life more broadly as it addressed our human need for order. As humans were almost automatically impose structure on all parts of our lives, therefore we are never as aimless as we may think or feel at times.

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