Effective Pedagogy Essay

2002 Words9 Pages
Assignment 1 Mathematics is one of eight curricular areas within Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) and makes its own contribution towards the aim of developing the four capacities within children - to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors. It is widely regarded as one of the most important subjects in the school curriculum (Orton & Forbisher, 2005). Its importance is reinforced by the fact that Mathematics appears in many aspects of everyday life, whether it be calculating how much is needed to buy food or to determine how much time we have to carry out an activity. Our day to day life would be problematic without some background knowledge of Mathematics. With regards to the importance of Mathematics, this essay will consider effective pedagogy and the opportunities associated with such when relating to the principles and practice within CfE. In order to provide children with a wide range of knowledge and skills to develop an understanding of Mathematics, it is a teacher’s professional obligation to apply effective pedagogy within the classroom. In 1982, Cornelius stated it is clearly unrealistic to expect children to have the ability to teach themselves a difficult subject - it is the role of teachers to find a way of presenting it in an acceptable form to pupils of all abilities. This can be achieved by using different strategies which include active learning, collaborative learning and interdisciplinary learning. There are multiple theories associated with pedagogy. The theories that underpin approaches emphasised within Building the Curriculum 2 (2007) highlight the constructivist theory. This theory regards the learning process as active, in which learners construct and internalise new thoughts, ideas and knowledge based on their own present and past knowledge and experiences. (Cohen,

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