A Study of Procedures used in the Determination of Objectives in the Teaching of Mathematics

Abstract

The question of the general and specific functions of mathematics in secondary education has been a source of much discussion and dispute for many years. The curriculum studies which have been concerned chiefly with attempts to determine educational objectives have used such methods as analysis of pupil activities, analysis of social needs, opinions of competent persons and authorities in the field, and analysis of existing objectives found in educational investigations, courses of study, and textbooks. The outcome of the specific influence of these studies has been the formulation of a great number of courses of studies with lists of general course-objectives and specific unit objectives. While it is true that in many cases the teachers of mathematics, who should be the most vitally interested in the determination and evaluation of the objectives relating to their subjects have been consulted in the matter, nevertheless, in general the solution of the problem has been left to the “experts” and more “qualified” persons; the teachers have accepted the lists of objectives presented in the courses of study and have tried to attain them the best way they could. It is felt that as a point of pedagogical interest it is worth while to note the r eactions of teachers of mathematics toward the proposed lists of objectivesand the proceddures followed in their determination. This study reports the evaluation by a group of teachers of secondary school mathematics of the merits of certain procedures used in the determination of mathematical objectives.