Sharing ideas and clarifying understanding

Ideas are reflected, refined, discussed and amended

Gives students opportunities to develop their own understanding by listening to others explanations

COMMUNICATION Helps build meanings and makes them public Helps children to be clear and convincing

Helps develop a language for expressing mathematical ideas

Students have:
Opportunities Encouragement Support for : speaking, writing, reading, and listening

In mathematics classes, when students communicate, they will reap dual benefits:

They communicate to learn mathematics They learn to communicate mathematically

STANDARDS FOR SCHOOL MATHEMATICS

NCTM

Instructional programs from pre-kindergarten through grade 12 should enable all students to:

Organize and consolidate their mathematical thinking through communication Communicate their mathematical thinking coherently and clearly to peers, teachers and others Use the language of mathematics to express mathematical ideas precisely.

A Problem to Solve
Two Machines, One Job
Rons Recycle Shop opened when Ron bought a used paper-shredding machine. Business was good, so he added a new shredding machine. The old machine could shred a truckload of paper in 4 hours. The new machine could shred the same truckload in only 2 hours. How long would it take to shred a truckload of paper if Ron ran both shredders at the same time?