Philosophy of TE-MAT
Current national standards for mathematics and science education are based on the premise that K – 12 education should
provide powerful mathematics and science content for all students and should focus on teaching for understanding. For
example, the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000)
describes the following six principles addressed by high-quality mathematics education:
- Equity. Excellence in mathematics education requires equity—high expectations and strong support for all students.
- Curriculum. A curriculum is more than a collection of activities: it must be coherent, focused on important mathematics and well articulated across the grades.
- Teaching. Effective mathematics teaching requires understanding what students know and need to learn and then challenging and supporting them to learn it well.
- Learning. Students must learn mathematics with understanding, actively building new knowledge from experience and prior knowledge.
- Assessment. Assessment should support the learning of important mathematics and furnish useful information to both teachers and students.
- Technology. Technology is essential in teaching and learning mathematics; it influences the mathematics that is taught and enhances students' learning. (p. 11)
A similar perspective underlies the National Standards for Science Education (National Research Council,
1996).
This vision of science and mathematics education has served as a foundation for the design of the TE-MAT database.
Whatever your experience level—from novice to expert—we hope you will find resources and tools to help you in the
design, implementation, and evaluation of effective professional development programs to support teachers as they
work toward these goals for mathematics and science education.
Understanding national standards is critical for providing effective
K – 12 mathematics and science education. Further information on national
standards, including how to order copies of the standards documents,
is available.
Equally critical to the process of designing and implementing effective
professional development programs are several key elements represented
in the
conceptual framework of
the database.
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