Customer Reviews

Mathematics for Elementary Teachers and Activities

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One of the my teaching assignments over the past few years has been to teach a course called "Fundamentals of Arithmetic and Logic." The course is designed for elementary education majors, although some students take it for general education credit. Having raised a daughter, I am very familiar with trying to develop analogies that teach abstract concepts while being fun to do. In my experience, elementary education teachers need to maintain a great deal of that mindset. Children like to have fun and if you can make them giggle, you can make them learn.

As the title indicates, this book is designed to teach mathematics to the prospective elementary teacher. The coverage is what it should be, there are exercises at the end of the sections, but unfortunately no solutions are provided in the book. I consider this a fatal flaw, I find it annoying to have to look elsewhere for answers and I don't have to pay extra for an answer book.

In terms of the quality of exposition, it is good and there are many class activities listed. There is a companion manual of class activities for teachers, but I have not seen it. What is missing from this book is a bit of levity. In reads just like any other math book, which is fine for mathematicians but less than ideal for elementary education majors. They need to learn activities that will keep those active minds interested and entertained. This jocular approach may be taken in the activity manual but you would not know it from this book. If I were to find a book that successfully took this approach, I would adopt it and use it until it fell apart.