The CBMS report, The Mathematical Education of Teachers (MET), breaks new ground toward finding peace in the Math Wars, battles in many states and localities between mathematicians and mathematics educators. The completed report was presented on November 2, 2001 at a "Summit on Math Education" in Washington, D.C. area, sponsored by the Mathematical Sciences Education Board of the National Research Council.
The answer the MET report presents to the math wars is that emphasizing computational skills to the exclusion of conceptual understanding or vice versa is not the issue. It's a balance of both that our students and teachers need. MET also lays out an operational program for achieving this in college and university programs for the education of elementary and secondary school teachers of mathematics.
A fuller discussion and a download of the MET report can be found at http://www.maa.org/cbms.
Copyright ©2002 The Mathematical Association of America
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