...That is what I don't like very much about our math curriculum, it is difficult to integrate problem-based learning into it... and to connect the curriculum with authentic problems.
Ahhh, a problem I have been thinking about myself. The materials we use spiral quickly, which can be a good or bad thing (depends on your point of view). One view is that the quick spiral doesn't allow students to become proficient, let alone master, skills that they are faced with. Without proficiency, students will find trouble as they advance in their mathematical lives. But isn't the concept of mastery or proficiency a way of gatekeeping? The quick spiral gives students a chance to see that concept a myriad of times, and not simply in one concentrated effort.
The spiral was my issue, but I feel far better about it now. Where I struggle now is in connecting the materials (more specifically, the lessons as laid out) to an authentic problem. Part of the job, as a teacher, is to make kids care about what we are teaching. Why should I care about coins today, and polygons tomorrow?
All of this thinking comes as I am reading dy/dan's post about a ball hitting a can!
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