Chapter 7: Thinking about Teaching and Learning

In 2008, Hall, Quinn, and Gollnick mentioned Dewy's "five-step process-oriented method" (p. 265). I would like to use this method in my future classroom. It seems perfect for a math class because of the five-steps: "1. Encountering a problem that needed to be solved 2. Defining the problem, asking questions that would help clarify exactly what needs to be solved 3. Collecting information about the problem 4. Making tentative hypotheses and reflecting on possible actions and out comes 5. Acting on a hypothesis that is likely to solve the problem" (Hall et al., 2008, p. 265). In math these steps apply to every word problem out there. I would also like to include the discovery method into my future classroom (Hall et al., 2008, p. 268). Math is all about problem solving and this method focuses on the "type of thinking skills necessary to the development of problem-solving abilities" (Hall et al., 2008, p. 268). I am a pessimistic person, however, I want to keep pessimism out of the classroom (Hall et al., 2008, p. 277). Pessimism simply looks at only the bad in life and I do not want my students to be negative (Hall et al., 2008, p. 277).