Much of What I Needed to Know I Learned by Teaching Mathematics

Abstract

What would you say if asked to deliver a commencement address and could not refuse? I found myself trying to answer that question. The only parameters were to keep it to ten minutes or less and make it appropriate to the occasion. I knew that it had to reflect my concept of education as a lifelong endeavor, that it had to reflect my experience as a mathematics educator, and that it should contain some of the important themes from my work with problem solving for teachers. As I composed the speech, I recalled how the elements of problem solving extend far beyond the mathematics classrooms. I have gotten very positive responses from people who are familiar with the current role of problem solving in the mathematics curriculum and from those who respond to the more general themes. I gave this address on 16 May 1998 at the University of Wisconsin—Oshkosh. It has also appeared in the June 1998 issue of Intersection, a newsletter published monthly by the NCTM and the Exxon Education Foundation.