Brown Bag Teaching/Learning Seminar #10
Questions on revising the NCTM Standards

I have recently joined the AWM's Associated Review Group (I kind of like the acronym). What we are reviewing is the NCTM Standards, which are due for heavy-duty revision over the next couple of years. Some of the questions that are being asked in that context strike me as very much to the point in our UW context, both because of their impact on our incoming students and because, with only minor modification, they could just as well be asked about our courses. So I propose to throw a small bunch on the table and see what we can do with them:

Algorithms and algorithmic thinking:

a. What is meant by "algorithmic thinking"?

b. How should the standards address the nature of algorithms in their more general mathematical context?

c. How should the standards address the matter of invented and standard algorithms for arithmetic computation?

d. What is it about the nature of algorithms that might be important for children to learn?

We will attack these (and probably some related issues!) at noon on Thursday, April 24 in the Math Lounge. I will bring my copy of the Standards in case you'd like to see what's up for revision.


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