The Text So Far

This has been a very interesting read to date. I am still not sure if either approach was any more successful than the other when it came to standardized assessment results. However it seems clear to me that the advantages of the open ended approach at Phoenix Park has produced students that are more mathematically competent and able to recall and use their mathematical skills for a longer period of time in a wider range of situations. I guess the approach we tend to take toward our mathematics teaching is a product of the pressures and freedoms we face as educators. There is no doubt that we need to have our students perform at a certain level on our standardized assessments or we our under the microscope. The one drawback to such assessments I truly feel is that these pressure and scrutiny has taken away from us a certain degree of creativity and diversity in our teaching and this is very unfortunate. After all do we want good test takers or good mathematical thinkers  and problem solvers? I feel that the latter would be a far more well rounded student.