Developing appositive disposition towards mathematics is a powerful way for viewing situations which includes a positive attitude, tendency of thinking and acting towards mathematics. Disposition extends learning of mathematics beyond the learning of procedures, concepts and applications. Mathematical disposition is very important to learners (Siemon et al, 11).
A positive mathematical disposition is to be creative. Being creative involves generation of new patterns, making opinions and generating new mathematical problems. This is an important aspect in a learner because; it encourages inventiveness in students.
In addition, it helps a student to generate new or primary ideas and apply the in solving day- to- day problems (Siemon et al, 12). For instance, creativity allows generation of new ideas to increase my effectiveness home.
Through creativity, a learner can look for patterns which act as a benchmark to evaluate the learner’s ability and willingness to take part in mathematical tasks (Siemon et al, 12). For example, combining different shapes to come up with a new shape; making a small circle inside a triangle and vice versa in order to create a pattern. Through creativity a learner is able to make opinions about mathematics and generate new problems.
Reasoning is an important aspect of positive mathematical disposition. Reasoning involves argumentation, uncovering contradictions and differentiating facts and assertions. The importance of reasoning is to encourage a learner to use of mathematics to explore real-world phenomena (Siemon et al, 13). In addition, it enables a learner to have confidence in solving problems and communication using mathematics.
For instance, students sample problems and use proportional reasoning to understand the relationship between mathematics and their lives. In addition, positive disposition increases the willingness of a student to discuss; offer an explanation for a point and defend it.
For example, students are also willing to ask questions with “what if…?” (Siemon et al, 13) These questions open discussions, participants express their points and defend them. These discussions form our day-to day conversation.
A positive mathematical disposition enhances the ability of a learner to mathematize. Mathematizing include activities like data collection, processing information, interpretation of data and presentation of results. This aspect sparks interest of mathematics in student’s life and create ability to connect mathematics and their lives. The importance of this aspect is to appreciate the role of mathematics as a tool and language.
In addition, mathematizing values the application of mathematics in different situations which arise in other disciplines. For example, mathematics is an important tool in my research work. During collection and processing of data, mathematics helps in analysis. Mathematics is widely applied in the interpretation and presentation because I use graphs, charts and percentages. Moreover, mathematics is important in our culture because it helps in census and money calculations.
Another aspect of positive mathematical disposition is communication (Siemon et al, 14). The learner gains the ability to express thoughts, accept other person’s ideas and establish cooperation forms. The importance of this aspect is that, it creates interest and inventiveness in mathematics. Moreover, it makes mathematics an important tool in monitoring a learner’s reflection, thinking and performance. It also improves the willingness of a learner to persevere in tasks associated with mathematics.
Communication of mathematical ideas is an important tool in our daily life because it actively engages a student in solving mathematical problems themselves. It also helps a learner to come up with multiple ways of problem solving.
In conclusion, a positive mathematical disposition is an essential tool to a learner. It helps a learner to be creative, reason, mathematize and communicate mathematical ideas (Siemon et al, 15). Teachers have a duty of imparting disposition to students.
Reference
Siemon, D., Beswick, K., Brady, K., Clark, J., Faragher, R., & Warren, E. (2011). Teaching mathematics: Foundations to middle school. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.