secretary arne duncan’s remarks at oecd’s release of the program for international student assessment (PISA) 2009 results
December 7, 2010
“Every three years, PISA assesses the reading, mathematics, and scientific literacy of 15-year old students. It provides crucial information about how well our students are prepared to do the sorts of reading, mathematics, and science that will be demanded of them in postsecondary education or the job market, as young adults in modern society.
Unfortunately, the 2009 PISA results show that American students are poorly prepared to compete in today’s knowledge economy.
President Obama has repeatedly warned that the nation that “out-educates us today will out-compete us tomorrow.” And the PISA results, to be brutally honest, show that a host of developed nations are out-educating us.
Finland, Korea and Canada are consistent high-performers. And the jewel of China’s education system, Shanghai debuted this year as the highest scoring participant globally. continue….
“The hard truth is that other high-performing nations have passed us by during the last two decades”.
Americans need to wake up to this educational reality– instead of napping at the wheel while emerging competitors prepare their students for economic leadership…..
“In mathematics, U.S 15-year olds are below-average performers among OECD nations”.
After a dip in our 2006 math scores, U.S students returned to the same level of performance in 2009 as six years earlier, in 2003. Still, we rank a lowly 25th in math.
The most encouraging finding from PISA is that our average science score is up. In 2006, American 15-year olds had below-average skills in scientific literacy, compared to their OECD peers. Today, U.S students have improved enough to become average performers in science among OECD nations, earning 17th place in the OECD rankings.
Still that’s not much to celebrate. Being average in science is a mantle of mediocrity — and especially in a knowledge economy where scientific literacy is so central to sustaining innovation and international competitiveness….
guidelines for assessment & instruction in mathematical modeling education
BY
consortium for mathematics and its applications (comap)
society for industrial and applied mathematics (SIAM)
What is mathematical modeling?
Mathematical modeling is a process that uses mathematics to represent, analyze, make predictions, or otherwise provide insight into real-world phenomena.
Most short definitions we find emphasize this most important aspect, namely the relation between modeling and the world around us.
-Using the language of mathematics to quantify real-world phenomena and analyze behaviors.
-Using math to explore and develop our understanding of real world problems.
-An iterative problem solving process in which mathematics is used to investigate & develop deeper understanding.
Let’s consider how we can translate this into our classrooms.
From Mathematics Settings to Applications to Modeling Problems
Mathematical modeling can be used to motivate curricular requirements and can highlight the importance and relevance of mathematics in answering important questions. It can also help students to gain transferable skills, such as habits of mind that are pervasive across subject matter. We will give a more precise definition of mathematical modeling in the next section; for now we focus, by way of examples, on how elements of mathematical modeling can be incorporated into existing curricula by making small changes to familiar application or story problems. For more information go to this Link: SIAM.ORG
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