Perspectives for Evaluation

In these activities, students are faced with a problem that has no straightforward, reliable method of solution. Finding the right answer is not as important as the experience of looking for answers and evaluating the quality of the answers that they do find. Some questions that may prove useful in evaluation student performance are:

The purpose of discussing proof and mathematical truth is to expose students to these notions, and to make them familiar with the roles that certainty and uncertainty play in mathematics. Although students should be learning to articulate their reasoning processes, they should not be expected to produce flawless proofs. They should recognize that the question, ``Do we know this for sure?'' is one that mathematicians continuously ask.



What next?