American Forum

MISSISSIPPI FORUM

By Lynn Evans

If we are really committed to improving educational outcomes for all children in Mississippi, we must change the way education is delivered in the classroom. With the benefit of new programs around the state and the nation, as well as scientific research about how children learn, we can and must make classrooms work better.

There is a growing body of evidence that young children learn best not by rote and didactic teaching, but by self-discovery and guided interactions with their peers. Children in a classroom informed by this research spend a lot of time talking to each other, working in small groups, and moving easily around the classroom to get the help and materials they need. As they work, their teacher moves from small group to small group, checking in on what students are doing, offering help and correction, and asking questions.

Very young children learn to “see” number groups and understand the concepts that underlie mathematics such as patterns, more than, less than, and in addition to. They love to count, and like to build and experiment with numbers and grouping. Too often, children lose their natural attraction to math when what they get at school is lots of rote memorization, work sheets, and too little building on what they see and experience in the world around them.

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