Chapter 6

I found it very interesting to read chapter 6 and realize that all that practice Amber Hill students received in textbook questions and paper and pencil tests that they did not excel on the GCSE exam over the Phoenix Park students. The students from Phoenix Park were rarely exposed to the exam and had a very worry free atmosphere. They completed open ended projects and barely did any traditional textbook questions. As Boaler(2002) states, "The students at the two schools developed a different kind of mathematics knowledge"(p104). The Phoenix park students were able to apply what they had learned in a broad range of questions. Amber Hill students on the other hand wanted to see questions that they had seen or were familiar with from class as their knowledge was triggered by cues or knowing that a certain procedure had to be carried out for a certain type question.
I was also amazed regarding the facts about the students who were off task or misbehaving in a Phoenix Park classroom. According to Boaler (2002), "a comparison of NFER entry results and  GCSE results show that these students did not underachieve on the GCSE examination in relation to other students"(p103). I was concerned while reading chapter 5 and completing my discussion that the off task students who wanted to learn through the traditional approach were being left out by the Phoenix Park teachers. It was evident this was not the case as they were not worse off than the other students on the exam. They were actually learning and even having to take on a small amount of responsibility themselves helped them develop a knowledge of mathematics and they were able to apply it. This goes to show that even the reluctant students will learn when we allow them to take responsibility for their own learning and explore mathematics concepts.

Boaler, Jo.(2002). Experiencing School Mathematics.New York:Routledge