Communication is an essential part of mathematics and mathematics education. It is a way of sharing ideas and clarifying understanding. When students are challenged to think and reason about mathematics and to communicate the results of their thinking to others orally and in writing, they learn to be clear and convincing. NCTM Standards 2000, page 60
There are several writing/discussion questions for each section of this book. The questions focus on mathematical concepts and teaching issues. More than half of the questions are preceded by statements from Principles and Standards for School Mathematics and many are keyed to the topics and substance of these statements.
Mathematical Concept questions provide an opportunity for students to reflect on mathematical ideas, concepts, and topics. These questions involve giving mathematical explanations and examples, solving problems, evaluating statements and conjectures, describing conceptual models, and researching historical topics.
Teaching Issue questions require preparing classroom activities for teaching specific concepts and writing about issues related to teaching. In particular, some of these questions involve school policies and teaching practices, a few of which are controversial, and which require developing views and positions, formulating responses, and writing supporting statements.
The writing/discussion questions can be used in several ways: individual student assignments or reports; small group discussions; and class discussions. These questions provide opportunities for detailed writing about topics and teaching issues. Unlike many mathematics exercises, Writing/Discussion questions may require outlines, diagrams, creating examples and activities, reasoning, explanations, and forming conclusions.
Check out the Writing/Discussion Problems at the Chapter Section Level of this site.
