TeachingComputationalEstimation-Connecticut.docVIP

[Source: Estimation Mental Computation-1986 Yearbook, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Permission Granted] \CDGOALS\Bk 3-5\Chp9\Teaching Computational Estimation.doc  PAGE 14 Teaching Computational Estimation: Concepts and Strategies Barbara J. Reys The very existence of this yearbook as well as the information presented in its various articles documents the support among educators for teaching estimation in elementary and secondary school classrooms. Bridging the gap between knowing that something should be taught and actually teaching it, however, requires concrete answers to questions like these: What specific skills should be taught? How should these skills be sequenced and merged into the existing mathematics curriculum? How should the topic be presented and practiced? This article will highlight two important features of a comprehensive estimation curriculum: the development of number concepts and the development of estimation strategies. (Many of the ideas and activities illustrated were developed through a National Science Foundation grant entitled Developing Computational Estimation in the Middle Grades. A complete copy of these materials is available through ERIC [numbers ED 242 526, ED 242 527, and ED 242 528]. THE CONTENT OF AN ESTIMATION CURRICULUM Estimation, much like problem solving, calls on a variety of skills and is developed and improved over a long period of time; moreover, it involves an attitude as well as a set of skills. Like problem solving, estimation is not a topic that can be isolated within a single unit of instruction. It permeates many areas of our existing curriculum, and to be effectively developed, it must be nurtured and encouraged throughout the study of mathematics. When it is taught as an isolated topic, as we have seen in recent years, the effort may even be counterproductive - leaving students with a general dislike and distrust for the very process. To be truly effective, a careful integration