Language Acquisition and Communication

LANGUAGE

System of symbols used to

communicate with others
that has rules
PHONEME
Basic sound unit of speech
such as th and e in the
MORPHENE
The smallest unit of a
language, made of
phonemes
LEXICON
Entire set of morphenes in
a given language
DISCOURSE
Analysis of language use
and meaning in larger
contexts such as
conversation
SYNTAX
Study of language
structure, the way words
are combined to create
phrases and sentences in a
language
PRAGMATICS
Use of appropriate
conversation and usage of
rules underlying language;
how people use language
SEMANTICS
Study of meanings for
words, phrases and
sentences
SOCIOLINGUISTICS
Study of how people use
language in social
interactions
BABBLING
Repetitve, rhythmic
speech babies use
consisting of the phonemes
of their language
COOING
Infant speech sounds
including basic sounds of
 speech found in all
cultures
HOLOPHRASTIC SPEECH
Single words of an infant,
communication used to
imply whole sentences
TELEGRAPHIC SPEECH
Use of short precise words
used to convey whole
messages, characteristic of
young children’s two or
three word combinations
LINGUISTIC-RELATIVITY HYPOTHESIS
The theory that languages
create different ways of
understanding the world by
their word usage and
meanings
LINGUISTIC UNIVERSALS
Research revealing that
there are similarities in
patterns of languages of all
cultures
Problem Solving
Problem solving
means engaging
in a task for
which the
solution method
is not known in
advance. In order
to find a solution,
students must
draw on their
knowledge, and
through this
process, they will
often develop
new
mathematical
understandings.
Solving problems
is not only a goal
of learning
mathematics but
also a major
means of doing
so. Students
should have
frequent
opportunities to
formulate,
grapple with, and
solve complex
problems that
require a
significant
amount of effort
and should then
be encouraged to
reflect on their
thinking.

By learning
problem solving
in mathematics,
students should
acquire ways of
thinking, habits
of persistence and
curiosity, and
confidence in
unfamiliar
situations that
will serve them
well outside the
mathematics
classroom. In
everyday life and
in the workplace,
being a good
problem solver
can lead to great
advantages.

Problem solving
is an integral part
of all
mathematics
learning, and so it
should not be an
isolated part of
the mathematics
program.
Problem solving
in mathematics
should involve all
the five content
areas described in
these Standards.
The contexts of
the problems can
vary from
familiar
experiences
involving
students' lives or
the school day to
applications
involving the
sciences or the
world of work.
Good problems
will integrate
multiple topics
and will involve
significant
mathematics.

Build new mathematical knowledge through problem solving

How can problem solving help students learn mathematics? Good

problems give students the chance to solidify and extend what they know
and, when well chosen, can stimulate mathematics learning. With young
children, most mathematical concepts can be introduced through
problems that come from their worlds. For example, suppose second
graders wanted to find out whether there are more boys or girls in the four
second-grade classes. To solve this problem, they would need to learn
how to gather information, record data, and accurately add several
numbers at a time. In the middle grades, the concept of proportion might
be introduced through an investigation in which students are given recipes
for punch that call for different amounts of water and juice and are asked
to determine which is "fruitier." Since no two recipes yield the same
amount of juice, this problem is difficult for students who do not have an
understanding of proportion. As various ideas are tried, with good
questioning and guidance by a teacher, students eventually converge on
using proportions. In high school, many areas of the curriculum can be
introduced through problems from mathematical or applications contexts.

Problem solving can and should be used to help students develop fluency
with specific skills. For example, consider the following problem, which
is adapted from the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School
Mathematics (NCTM 1989, p. 24):

I have pennies, dimes, and nickels in my pocket. If I take three coins

out of my pocket, how much money could I have taken?
p. 52 Knowledge is needed to solve this problem—knowledge of the value of
pennies, dimes, and nickels and also some understanding of addition. »
Working on this problem offers good practice in addition skills. But the
important mathematical goal of this problem—helping students to think
systematically about possibilities and to organize and record their
thinking—need not wait until students can add fluently.

The teacher's role in choosing worthwhile problems and mathematical

tasks is crucial. By analyzing and adapting a problem, anticipating the
mathematical ideas that can be brought out by working on the problem,
and anticipating students' questions, teachers can decide if particular
problems will help to further their mathematical goals for the class. There
are many, many problems that are interesting and fun but that may not
lead to the development of the mathematical ideas that are important for a
class at a particular time. Choosing problems wisely, and using and
adapting problems from instructional materials, is a difficult part of
teaching mathematics.

Solve problems that arise in mathematics and in other contexts

People who see the world mathematically are said to have a

"mathematical disposition." Good problem solvers tend naturally to
analyze situations carefully in mathematical terms and to pose problems
based on situations they see. They first consider simple cases before
trying something more complicated, yet they will readily consider a more
sophisticated analysis. For example, a task for middle-grades students
presents data about two ambulance companies and asks which company is
more reliable (Balanced Assessment for the Mathematics Curriculum
1999a). A quick answer found by looking at the average time customers
had to wait for each company turns out to be misleading. A more careful
mathematical analysis involving plotting response times versus time of
day reveals a different solution. In this task, a disposition to analyze more
deeply leads to a more complete understanding of the situation and a
correct solution. Throughout the grades, teachers can help build this
disposition by asking questions that help students find the mathematics in
their worlds and experiences and by encouraging students to persist with
interesting but challenging problems.

Posing problems comes naturally to young children: I wonder how long it

would take to count to a million? How many soda cans would it take to
fill the school building? Teachers and parents can foster this inclination
by helping students make mathematical problems from their worlds.
Teachers play an important role in the development of students' problem-
solving dispositions by creating and maintaining classroom environments,
from prekindergarten on, in which students are encouraged to explore,
take risks, share failures and successes, and question one another. In such
supportive environments, students develop confidence in their abilities
and a willingness to engage in and explore problems, and they will be
more likely to pose problems and to persist with challenging problems.
 Apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve problems
p. 53 Of the many descriptions of problem-solving strategies, some of the best
known can be found in the work of Pólya (1957). Frequently cited »
strategies include using diagrams, looking for patterns, listing all
possibilities, trying special values or cases, working backward, guessing
and checking, creating an equivalent problem, and creating a simpler
problem. An obvious question is, How should these strategies be taught?
Should they receive explicit attention, and how should they be integrated
with the mathematics curriculum? As with any other component of the
mathematical tool kit, strategies must receive instructional attention if
students are expected to learn them. In the lower grades, teachers can help
children express, categorize, and compare their strategies. Opportunities
to use strategies must be embedded naturally in the curriculum across the
content areas. By the time students reach the middle grades, they should
be skilled at recognizing when various strategies are appropriate to use
and should be capable of deciding when and how to use them. By high
school, students should have access to a wide range of strategies, be able
to decide which one to use, and be able to adapt and invent strategies.

Young children's earliest experiences with mathematics come through

solving problems. Different strategies are necessary as students
experience a wider variety of problems. Students must become aware of
these strategies as the need for them arises, and as they are modeled
during classroom activities, the teacher should encourage students to take
note of them. For example, after a student has shared a solution and how
it was obtained, the teacher may identify the strategy by saying, "It
sounds like you made an organized list to find the solution. Did anyone
solve the problem a different way?" This verbalization helps develop
common language and representations and helps other students
understand what the first student was doing. Such discussion also
suggests that no strategy is learned once and for all; strategies are learned
over time, are applied in particular contexts, and become more refined,
elaborate, and flexible as they are used in increasingly complex problem
situations.

Monitor and reflect on the process of mathematical problem solving

Effective problem solvers constantly monitor and adjust what they are
doing. They make sure they understand the problem. If a problem is
written down, they read it carefully; if it is told to them orally, they ask
questions until they understand it. Effective problem solvers plan
frequently. They periodically take stock of their progress to see whether
they seem to be on the right track. If they decide they are not making
progress, they stop to consider alternatives and do not hesitate to take a
completely different approach. Research (Garofalo and Lester 1985;
Schoenfeld 1987) indicates that students' problem-solving failures are
often due not to a lack of mathematical knowledge but to the ineffective
 use of what they do know.
p. 54
Good problem solvers become aware of what they are doing and
frequently monitor, or self-assess, their progress or adjust their strategies
as they encounter and solve problems (Bransford et al. 1999). Such
reflective skills (called metacognition) are much more likely to develop in
a classroom environment that supports them. Teachers play an important
role in helping to enable the development of these reflective habits of »
mind by asking questions such as "Before we go on, are we sure we
understand this?" "What are our options?" "Do we have a plan?" "Are we
making progress or should we reconsider what we are doing?" "Why do
we think this is true?" Such questions help students get in the habit of
checking their understanding as they go along. This habit should begin in
the lowest grades. As teachers maintain an environment in which the
development of understanding is consistently monitored through
reflection, students are more likely to learn to take responsibility for
reflecting on their work and make the adjustments necessary when
solving problems.