theinternationalcommissiononmathematicalinstruction(.docVIP

The International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI) The Fifteenth ICMI Study: The Professional Education and Development of Teachers of Mathematics (Strand II) Contribution of Realistic Mathematics Education and Theory of Multiple Intelligences to Mathematics Practical and Integrated Applications – Experiences from Shanghai and Macao in China K.C. Cheung R.J. Huang Faculty of Education, University of Macau Macao, China Abstract This paper seeks to introduce a teaching experiment recently proposed to help mathematics teachers familiarize themselves with the rationale, curriculum objectives, content standards, and curriculum implementation recommendations of the Mathematics Curriculum Standards released by the Ministry of Education of People’s Republic of China in 2001. If China’s Mathematics Curriculum Standards is to be successfully instituted, teachers firstly need to revise their conceptions about school mathematics so that the mathematics curriculum delivered exhibits fundamental, universal and developmental characters; and secondly teachers need to empower themselves so that every student learns valuable mathematics, acquire mathematics essential to him or her, and that different student can have different kinds of development in mathematics. Shanghai’s teaching experiments, based on ideas of Realistic Mathematics Education and an innovative teacher professional development model entitled “Teacher Action Education”, have produced admirable results that may be disseminated to other parts of China. One the other hand, Macao, a special administrative region of China after 1999, has been actively studying the feasibility of using Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences to practice individually configured education. The teaching experiments proposed will take these issues and findings into account so as to help mathematics teachers in Shanghai and Macao learn for practice, in and from practice. Contribution of Realistic Mathemati