Innovative Practices in Mathematics Education: An Overview

Introduction
The teaching and learning of mathematics is a complex activity and many factors determine the success
of this activity. The nature and quality of instructional material, the preparation and pedagogic skills of
the teacher, the learning environment, the motivation of the students are all-important and must be kept
in view in any effort to ensure quality in mathematics education. Often when one refers to innovations,
one only has in mind the first of these, namely, instructional material; even here ‘innovation’ commonly
means teaching aids or manipulatives. A large number of such devices that are excellent aids to
mathematics learning are indeed available. However, it is important to remember that the other aspects
mentioned are equally important and together determine the range of actual and possible innovations in
mathematics education.

In this paper, I shall discuss innovations and innovative practices in mathematics education under two
broad headings. Under pedagogic resources, I shall include teaching aids, games, activities, models and
curricula – resources that a teacher may draw upon to advance her pupils’ learning. The second broad
category of innovative practices belong the domain of teacher professional development. I shall argue
that at a greater effort is needed in this domain. In the course of the discussion on pedagogic resources,
I shall refer briefly to specific innovations that have been contributed by teachers, researchers and
educationists. These will necessarily be only a sample. I shall also attempt to convey some of the
assumptions that seem to me to guide the practice and reflections of innovators and researchers.
Through these discussions, I hope to provide an overview of what is available, and to focus attention on
the areas of innovation where more energy and effort must be directed.
To begin with, it is useful to briefly review the main learning outcomes that we wish children to acquire in
the domain of mathematics in elementary school. The following short list will serve to remind us that the
objectives are broad and cover different kinds of competencies:
x Rapid and accurate recall/ construction of the number sequence and of simple number facts
related to the basic arithmetic operations
x Correct interpretation of the mathematical structure in a problem solving situation and the
operations required to solve the problem
x Bug-free knowledge of procedures used for computation
x Ability to estimate numbers and quantities in various situations
x Correct understanding of complex symbols such as fractions (rational numbers) and algebraic
notation
x Ability to reason mathematically; capacity to use and reason with mathematical language and
symbols
x Spatial reasoning abilities including the use of numbers in geometric problems

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Some of these competencies, such as estimation, reasoning and problem solving, do not receive sufficient
emphasis in traditional curricula, but are important from the point of view of building life skills, and as
preparation for further learning. Innovators need to address the whole range of competencies in their
efforts to improve existing practices. One would expect therefore that innovative teaching practices and
aids would be of different kinds depending on what competency they seek to develop or strengthen. For
instance, some may be aimed at elucidating a concept, while some may aim to provide practice of a
particular skill. Some innovations would be intended to develop reasoning abilities, some at making
connections, and so on. I shall mention examples of these different kinds of innovations in the paper.
The cycle of innovation begins with the identification of a problem such as a difficult concept, the lack of
a particular skill, a commonly found misconception or a systematic error. These reveal themselves most
often in the course of classroom teaching or during assessment. It is no wonder therefore that teachers
are at the frontline of innovation, a fact that deserves more attention than it receives. The teacher or
innovator initiates an innovative practice, which may take the form of a teaching aid, a story, an activity
or exercise, and so on. The practice goes through a period of trial where it is tested, improved and
refined. The teacher herself grows in the process, in her understanding of the original problem or
difficulty and in her skill in effecting the innovative practice. When a stable equilibrium is reached, the
innovative practice is ready for replication and propagation among other teachers. Unfortunately, in our
school system there are rarely opportunities for teachers to learn from each other. One of the most
important changes required in the system, if innovative practices are to spread, improve and take root, is
better peer interaction among teachers. The cycle of problem identification, initiating a solution, testing
and refining it and eventual dispersion, holds for micro-innovations in the classroom as well as for
broader, systemic innovations such as whole curricula, school management practices, use of new learning
technologies and so on. The point to note is that innovations need to leave the innovator’s home and
lead a wider life of their own. One of the responsibilities of mathematics educators is to put in place
mechanisms which allow the sharing of innovative practices and to develop a discourse that can build on
existing innovations and foster the development of new ones.
There are two ways in which one may structure the discussion of specific innovations. One is to focus on
specific concepts in a topic or an area of elementary mathematics and discuss the innovative practices
that facilitate their acquisition. The second approach could be to classify different kinds of innovative
practices. In the following section I take the first approach and discuss the area of numbers and
operations and some innovative practices that contribute to enhanced learning in this area. The rest of
the paper follows a classificatory approach.

Numbers and Operations

One of the first steps the child must take is the mastery of the counting number sequence. She must
learn the first few numbers, learn how to count further using the patterns of tens and hundreds, learn
the written numerals and understand the positional values of the digits. The mastery of the counting
system and written numerals takes place over a span of several years. One must remember that although
the decimal place value system of representing numbers is extremely efficient, it is by no means ‘natural’.
It developed historically only over a long period and only in certain cultures. We want our children to
master this system, at least for numbers up to thousand, so well that the associations between the
number word, the numeral and the magnitude of the number becomes automatic, unconscious and rapid.
This is the foundation for all that comes later and is indeed the first pedagogical challenge for teachers,
and one must add, for many parents.

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The practice of chorus chanting is a response to this pedagogical challenge, and might well have been an
innovative practice in the distant past. But by itself, it is insufficient if children are to learn more than the
first few numbers. Even to master the number sequence up to 100, children need to understand and use
the pattern of the decades. This poses hurdles since the pattern of number words shows idiosyncrasies in
many languages. The South Indian languages have a more regular structure than English, which in turn
is more regular than the North Indian languages. The reversed order of the digits in the two digit number
words in the North Indian languages leads many children to incorrectly reverse the order while writing
the numeral. Although eventually nearly all children will correct this mistake, teaching practices that sort
this out earlier are valuable since they prepare students better to absorb other concepts. A common
practice among teachers is to write sets of ten numbers under a drawing of the ‘decade house’ to which
they belong: the numbers from 20 to 29 for example, belong to the ‘house of twenty’. This commonly
found pedagogical device is practical as well as useful. Other simple practices that can be implemented in
any classroom include different kinds of oral counting. When children begin to verbalize the number
sequence correctly, one can enhance their recall abilities through various ‘jump-counting’ exercises
(counting in twos, threes, fives, tens, etc.) and corresponding written exercises. These teaching practices
are used by many teachers, but nevertheless count as innovations since they deal with the important
pedagogical problem of having children become fluent at counting.

It is not enough if children learn the number sequence, they must also have a sense of the magnitude of
the number. This requires the understanding of place value. There are a range of concrete manipulatives
that are useful in representing the concept of place value. These include beads, stones, seeds, sticks,
strips, matchsticks, Dienes blocks, unifix cubes, etc. They vary in terms of cost, availability, ease of use
and other advantages, and teachers may want to choose
whatever is most appropriate to their situation and style of
teaching. Many educators have stressed the importance of
actually handling and using such concrete manipulatives. They
not only help build a strong concept of place value in number
representation, but also help in clarifying the procedures used
for operations on numbers. Let us take the example of a simple
concrete representation of place value: matchstick bundles. A
single matchstick stands for a unit or a one, a bundle of ten
sticks stands for a ten, and a bundle of 10 tens stands for a
hundred. Figure 1 indicates how these could be used to show a
number as well as to show the operation of addition and
subtraction.
When we demonstrate addition and subtraction using
matchsticks with teachers, there is often a sense of discovery, a
feeling that they have now understood the basis for the
procedures of 'carryover' and 'borrow' that they have been
teaching all along. Thus, such concrete representations are useful in clarifying these concepts even for
teachers.
Figure 1: Using matchstick bundles
to illustrate addition

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The matchstick bundles could be used in concrete or in pictorial form to illustrate how place value is used
in multiplication. Figure 2 illustrates how this could be done. Notice that icons have been used for
bundles of ten, hundred and thousand. Also, notice the convention used to show a `carryover'.

Figure 2: Illustrating patterns in multiplication

It is impractical to continue using concrete manipulatives to represent the higher place values. It may
even be counter-productive, since children need to move to a more abstract and symbolic understanding.
In bridging the passage from the concrete to the abstract, the stick abacus is a useful device since it
combines elements of abstraction besides being a concrete model. It can also be used in pictorial form, in
exercises aimed at strengthening the understanding of place value and of periods. Similarly, play money
in the form of notes, coins or cheques are semi-concrete representations and are useful both as
manipulatives and in pictorial form.
The foregoing discussion shows us, firstly, that many innovative practices are at the micro-level; they are
everyday teaching innovations that occur in the classroom. That does not mean that they are
unimportant, for they may be very effective. Secondly, there are a large number of innovative,
thoughtfully produced aids that are also available. However, their actual effectiveness is dependant on
the skill in using them. This is an important point and I will discuss this later under the heading of teacher
professional development.

Pedagogical resources: a classification

There are a large number and variety of pedagogical resources useful in mathematics education. The
following sub-sections present a classification of such resources. The classification is intended to provide
a framework for the discussion of the contributions each kind of resource makes to the teaching-learning
process.

Structured Manipulatives
Structured manipulatives are among the most important kinds of aids. The manipulatives that were
mentioned as aids to understand place value belong to this group. The structure of these manipulatives
mirrors the structure of the mathematical concept: a bundle of ten matchsticks stand for a ten, opening a
bundle is the process of decomposing, making a bundle is recomposing, and so on. Some manipulatives
which represent place value such as Dienes' blocks have a fixed design where decomposing a place value
unit into lower place value units is not possible. Here the idea of 'exchange' is used instead of
'decomposing' or ‘recomposing': one exchanges ten units for a ten, or 10 tens for a hundred, and so on.

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Many creatively designed aids have been developed that embody some aspect of mathematical structure.
Coloured blocks that can be joined together can be used to illustrate simple addition facts. Multiplication
can be represented by means of arrays of objects – cubes, tiles, pegs, etc. Such arrays can be used to
communicate a variety of concepts related to multiplication. The mathematics developed by Vivek
Monteiro of Navnirmiti is a device that combines many of these possibilities. It can be used to show
different display forms including arrays and linear addition facts. The kits developed by P.K. Srinivasan,
one of the pioneer’s innovators in mathematics education, also contain well-designed, low-cost structured
manipulatives for various mathematical concepts.
The topic of fractions is a notoriously difficult topic and many manipulatives have been developed that
embody aspects of the structure of fractions. The most common are area models which use standard
shapes: rectangles, squares and circles. The fraction chart which shows equal length strips, each divided
into a different number of equal parts, placed one below the other is a linear model. An Australian group
at the University of Melbourne reports success with the use of linear pipe models to illustrate place values
in decimal fractions. Linear models are important since they can be connected with the positions of
fractions on the number line. Some volume models have also been developed, such as the ‘fraction jars’,
developed at HBCSE. But these are useful only with children who are in class 5 or older, since the
concept of the conservation of volume develops only slowly.
Structured manipulatives provide a base of concrete experiences on which abstract conceptions can be
built. Such experiences are useful and providing for them undeniably enhances the quality of the learning
experience. One must however be aware that there are limitations to what can be done with
manipulatives alone. Firstly, the development of the concept at the symbolic or abstract level does not
follow automatically from handling the concrete manipulatives. Much pedagogical work and creativity may
be needed to let children make a transition from the concrete to the abstract level. Secondly, work also
needs to be done at the abstract or symbolic level to secure the concept fully. In fact, one often sees that
adults, who have mastered the procedure, even if they have learnt it mechanically, are better placed to
appreciate the similarity between the symbolic procedure and the concrete operation carried out with the
manipulatives. The relation between experience at the concrete level and the formation of the concept is,
from the cognitive point of view, a complex one and not very well understood.
Further, it is important to ensure that students indeed move to the abstract level because the power of
mathematics derives from abstractions. The shift from the concrete to the abstract can be quite radical in
mathematics. Evidence for this is found in the fact that what was initially abstract becomes concrete later
on. The best example of this is the natural numbers. This is a purely abstract notion and takes
considerable time for young children to master. However, for older children numbers function like
concrete objects in their own right paving the way for more abstract concepts such as factors, multiples,
prime factorization, and the concepts of algebra.
The shift from concrete to abstract is radical in another sense. While the concepts at the abstract level
derive their power from their generality, this may entail a loss of easy interpretation of the concept at the
lowest concrete level. Take the example of the subtraction operation. After the introduction of signed
numbers, it is more appropriate to think of subtraction as the addition of the additive inverse rather than
as a separate operation. This may be easy to interpret in a context involving profit and loss. But in other
contexts that involve the subtraction operation, there is no easy interpretation of negative numbers.
Water evaporating from a dish, or even eating a few bananas from a bunch are easily modeled by
subtraction, but it is difficult to think of these as adding the additive inverse. A similar situation obtains
when the rational numbers are introduced and division is absorbed into multiplication as multiplication by
the reciprocal. Think of the problem 1¾ ÷ ½. This can be written as 1¾ × 2. Attempting to illustrate this

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equivalence in concrete terms may have the result of making a student’s understanding foggier rather
than clearer.
Thus, concrete manipulatives must function not like a crutch but like the Wittgenstinean ladder that must
be thrown away once the climbing is done. A balance needs to be maintained between the two essential
components of good mathematical pedagogy: concrete scaffolding and abstract reasoning.

Mnemonic and Attentional Aids

Attention is a pre-condition for learning and teaching involves continuous effort at directing students'
attention. So it is not surprising that devices such as flashcards that help to attract and focus attention
are helpful. Other examples include number charts, multiplication charts, large pictures of notes and
coins, etc. All of these are extremely useful in the classroom when the teacher is explaining or posing a
problem. The blackboard is perhaps the prime example among attentional aids. School education, at least
in the present era, is unthinkable without a blackboard, and nothing is more depressing than to find
schools with poor blackboards. It can safely be stated that the size of the blackboard is directly
proportional to its impact. I have seen schools run by enlightened NGOs where much of the wall is
converted into a blackboard or a board of some sort. It is a practice in countries like Japan to use roll-up
or small blackboards that can be hung on a nail in addition to the main blackboard. These are used to
highlight some especially important material: a problem, a principle, a property, etc.
One may add some structure to the display device to make it more useful. For example, large roll-up
blackboards can be painted with white paint to show a grid of dots or lines. At HBCSE, we call these ‘dot
boards’. This simple modification makes the dotboard a versatile device which could be put to the
following uses:
x Illustrating the concepts of length, area and perimeter of different geometrical shapes. The
dotboard is a convenient substitute for the geoboard for many purposes.
x Showing various geometrical shapes in different orientations. The dotboard makes it easy for the
teacher to draw the shapes.
x Explain concepts such as sides, vertices, etc. of plane figures.
x Illustrating reflection symmetry on a line
x Showing fractions and decimals and explaining associated concepts
A number slide is another attentional aid that is easily made. For the paper version of this aid, in a long
broad strip of paper, slits are made so that another narrow strip passes through the slits and can slide
back and forth (see Figure 3). The sliding strip is much longer than the broad strip and has blanks drawn
th s
ths
ds

d
ed

an
re

th s

dr
nd

us
es
ns

n
ten

th o
Hu

On

hu
Te

Figure 3: The number slide (Source: Decimal Project Website, University of

Melbourne)
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which are aligned to the windows on the broad strip. On the number slide, the place values are written
above each window where a digit appears. In the figure, the number slide is used to explain the
recomposition of decimal fractions: 13 hundredths is 1 tenth and 3 hundredths. The slide also allows the
illustration of what happens when multiplying or dividing by powers of 10 – shifting to the left or to the
right. The number slide can be modified to explain place value conversion for whole numbers, and
conversion between decimal units and subunits of measurement (for example, meter Æ decimeter Æ
centimeter Æ millimeter).

Games and Puzzles

Mathematics, because of the beauty of its intrinsic structure and the intellectual stimulation that it
provides, can be an inherently pleasurable activity. However, many students experience it as a rather
unpleasant subject. The reason for this may partly lie in the pedantic approach to the subject taken by
many teachers, and partly in the fact that some mathematical skills need a lot of practice before they are
internalized and easily recalled. Games can be a means of making the practice of skills less tedious,
sometimes even pleasurable. The simple game of target 100 is a good example. Two individuals or two
groups may play this game. Each group takes turns to add a single digit number to a total that keeps
growing. The first group that makes the total equal to 100 wins.
An activity that makes addition practice interesting is the palindrome chart. In this activity, on the chart
of two digit numbers, children colour the numbers which have the same palindromic order with the same
colour. The palindrome chart illustrates an important general principle: exercises that are embedded in
activities that are meaningful and interesting are preferable to exercises that involve just repeated
practice with a certain skill. Palindromic numbers are interesting in themselves – they are the numbers
which read the same even if they are read backwards, for example, 2442. If a number is not palindromic,
then one adds to it the reversed number. For example, 34 is not palindromic, so we add its ‘reverse’, 43
to it, obtaining 77, which is palindromic. Since we obtained a palindromic number with just one-step of
reversing and adding, 34 has palindromic order 1. Other numbers may need two or more steps of
reversing and adding before we obtain a palindromic number, and hence have higher palindromic order.
Children notice the pattern for ‘one-step’ palindromic numbers. These are the numbers where the sum of
the digits is less than 10. They begin to look then for other patterns. So the addition that they do is
embedded in this interesting activity of finding patterns. Moreover, the pattern is critically dependant on
the carryover procedure, since carryovers ‘spoil’ the chances of obtaining a palindromic number. This is
precisely where we want children to focus attention since children need to master the 'carryover'
procedure in vertical addition. These factors make the palindrome chart especially appropriate and
successful. In general, children are interested in patterns and seek them out; this is a part of their
general drive to acquire knowledge about the world around them.
Many interesting games and puzzles can be designed by associating numbers with traditional game
devices such as boards, cards and dice. Dominoes are a well-known example. Here are a few more.
x Jod-ghata ka khel to found in the Eklavya books. In one version of this game, children roll two
dice marked with appropriate numbers. They may do any one of the four operations with the two
numbers and obtain a new number. They can then capture the corresponding 'house' on the
game board.

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 x Chain cards: These are a set of cards where a
5 5 5
question is written in the lower half of the card,

27 + 7

16 – 8
and the answer to a question – not the one in

34

8
6
the lower half, but a different question, which
appears on another card – is written in the
upper half. The cards are distributed to 15 + 8 14 – 9 18 – 8
different children. One child stands up and 23 5 10
reads the question on his card. The answer to

5+7

25 – 18
this question is on another card. So the child

8
7
12
6
who has the card must stand up and read out
the answer and the question that appears on
her card. The chain goes on till it comes back 19 + 5 25 – 19 7
to the first card. (For more details, see 24 6 13 – 6
Subramaniam, 2001, pp. **)

20 – 12

19 – 9
10

8
8
x Tic-tac-multiply: This is a version of the
common dots and crosses (tic-tac-toe). But 6
here there are constraints on where one can 7 7 7
put a dot or a cross. This is decided by a 'factor Figure 4: 'Jigsaw' puzzle
board' where certain numbers are written. One
must choose one of the numbers and multiply
it with the number already chosen by the opponent to capture a house on which the product
number is written (Bhat and Subramaniam, 1997).
x "Jigsaw puzzle": Nine squares must be arranged to form a bigger square, but the expressions
and numbers along the joined edges must be equal (see Figure 4).
x Missing area puzzle: This is a very popular puzzle. One cuts square with area 64 units into four
pieces. On rearranging the pieces to obtain a rectangle, one finds that the area is now 65 units!
The children have to explain how this happens. The puzzle is helpful in securing the concept of
conservation of area, a concept that Piaget showed was surprisingly difficult for children even at
the end of primary school.
Some aids such as the geoboard are classic and mandatory, since they have broad application and can be
used to set up puzzles or as aids to clarify concepts. Similarly, the pegboard is useful in explaining the
difference between area and perimeter.

Pattern Based Exercises

These are exercises that take advantage of the spontaneous interest shown by children in patterns. A
simple patterned exercise that young children find interesting is doubling numbers. Here they are
presented with several exercises such as 14+14, 16+16. The numbers in the exercises follow some
pattern, which allows children to spontaneously discover simple mental addition strategies. Other
examples of patterned exercises are presented below:
x A fact such as 34+58=92 is presented. Students are then asked to find 35+58, 33+58,
33+59, etc.
x Students are asked to fill in <, > or = in the box:
35+26 Ŀ 36+25

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 x Students are asked to study the pattern in the following multiplication problems:
3 О6 = Ŀ 3 О60 = Ŀ 3 О600 = Ŀ
x Students make as many three-letter words (nonsense words are allowed) as possible by
choosing
o B or C for the first letter
o O for the second letter
o L or M for the third letter
How many words can they make? What happens if we use A or O for the second letter? And so on.
Discovering patterns involves at least implicit reasoning. This presents the teacher with a new
opportunity: asking students to verbalize their implicit reasoning. Through this exercise, children learn the
use of mathematical language and gain confidence in talking about mathematical objects, properties and
relations.
Exploratory Activities
Exploratory activities allow a longer engagement of students with a single task or situation or a set of
closely related tasks and combine elements of investigation and discovery. An example of an activity,
shown in the figure below, is making and using a mind reader. Children explore the patterns used in
constructing the mind-reader tables and practice playing the game with friends or elders. For older
children and for adults, working out the connection with the binary representation of a number is
interesting.

1 9 17 25 2 10 18 26 4 12 20 28 8 12 24 28 16 20 24 28
3 11 19 27 3 11 19 27 5 13 21 29 9 13 25 29 17 21 25 29
5 13 21 29 6 14 22 30 6 14 22 30 10 14 26 30 18 22 26 30
7 15 23 31 7 15 23 31 7 15 23 31 11 15 27 31 19 23 27 31
Mind Reader: Think of a number less than 32. Tell me in which of the above tables your number appears
and I'll tell you your number. (The trick is to add the first numbers – which are all powers of 2 – from
only those tables where the number appears.)
Many exploratory activities are described in books and journals on mathematics education. A few of them
that we have tried and found useful are working with magic squares, solving the ‘tower of Hanoi’
problem, making and using a balance, making standard weights, various other measurement activities,
making a simple fraction chart, tesselations and dissections, Moebius strips, making solid geometrical
shapes from nets, etc. Measurement related activities are especially important since measurement plays a
key role in craft, engineering and science. Many children still learn measurement in a purely bookish
manner – one must consider this an educational trick played on students. It is appropriate here to
mention another powerful resource that shares many of the features of exploratory activities. These are
the so-called open problems. Open problems are problems that not only have different methods of
solution, but that are also capable of giving rise to new variant problems or sub-problems. The approach
to teaching using open problems is described in the book The Open Ended Approach to Problem Solving
by Becker and ** (1999).

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Exploratory activities, with facilitation from an able teacher can be both fun and involve a tremendous
sense of discovery. Students engage in various activities that are part of doing mathematics: defining a
problem, modifying or simplifying a problem to obtain a related problem, examining different cases,
observing patterns and generalizing from a pattern. Such activities, of course, need careful development
and planning. There is plenty of scope for innovation on the part of educators here in terms of identifying
an interesting activity, exploring what opportunities it offers for mathematical investigation and
reasoning, how it relates to topics in the mathematics curriculum, breaking up a given problem into
smaller tasks or problems, identifying opportunities for generalization, etc.
As the students explore the activity, the facilitator plays a key role in ensuring that students derive the
most out of the activity. The art of facilitation involves a balance between making helpful suggestions and
letting students work on their own. If the activities are done by different groups, a summing-up session
with presentations from different groups followed by explanations from a teacher can help tie up many
threads of reasoning. On the whole, exploratory activities are a powerful and under-utilized medium for
learning mathematics.
Unifying Representational Contexts
Some representational contexts model a concept or a set of concepts so well that they are truly unifying
and can be used in teaching-learning situations repeatedly at different levels. Two of the most successful
examples of unifying representational contexts are the number line and its two-dimensional analogue the
Cartesian co-ordinate plane. These play a pivotal role in the elucidation of many key concepts in the
upper primary and the high school and even beyond. Some researchers (Streefland, Ball) have proposed
the use of situations and problems of equal sharing as an integrating representational context for the
topic of fractions. Sharing problems are meaningful and are useful in illustrating concepts such as
equivalent fractions, operations with fractions and the connections between the division operation and
the fraction notation. This proposal is promising and needs further elaboration into teaching-learning
sequences and instructional units. Another example, on a smaller scale, is the use of rectangles and
rectangular arrays in illustrating various properties of multiplication: commutativity, multiplication by one
and zero, distributivity and factorization.
Teaching-Learning Sequences and Curricula
I do not wish to discuss the principles and practice of curriculum development here, but only wish to call
attention to an important area of innovation, where more work is needed, and where the demands are
very different from other areas of innovation. Since mathematics is a highly interconnected discipline,
innovative resources need to be integrated, and innovative practices need to be woven together, to form
a coherent and extended teaching-learning sequence. The skills and concepts that pupils have learnt
earlier need to be reinforced and integrated with new and more advanced concepts. Many concepts,
styles of thinking and reasoning, and attitudes to problem solving develop over an extended period of
time. Hence, while a few activities do advance a child’s motivation or understanding of some concepts,
the greater impact is made by the curriculum which lays down what is done day after day and year after
year in mathematics.
The designing of innovative curricula also presents a new level of challenge different from the
development of single activities or resources aimed at a few concepts. The curriculum designer needs to
worry about the overall achievement level of children at the end of the year, or even at the end of a few
years of schooling. He or she has to address not only issues of learning, but also of retention over a long
period. At the level of the whole curriculum, the variety of competencies and skills that make up
mathematical ability become salient as also their connections with one another. The relation between

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procedural and conceptual knowledge, for example, needs to be squarely addressed as the curriculum
designer attempts to strike a balance between different kinds of learning outcomes.
The institutional mechanism through which curricula are developed and implemented is different in
different countries. In India, like in some other Asian countries, and unlike in many Western countries,
curriculum development is a highly centralized activity. Even in such a context, there is a need for
research and development work focused on curriculum innovations. If such innovations are not
developed and tested from within the cultural context, there is a danger of arbitrarily adopting changes,
often due to the pressures of changing educational fashions. The ambience and culture of educational
work must be capable of fostering within itself such research and development activity. In education on
the whole, conservatism is preferable to free flowing radicalism, but it needs to be a democratic and not
a hegemonic conservatism. The conservative positions underlying traditional curricula must be articulated
and defended. They need to be open to criticism and fresh ideas. This means, to begin with, recognizing
the importance and the necessity of alternative approaches and innovative curricula, which need space
for their trial and development.
In a centralized system of curriculum development, a well-articulated set of learning standards may not
be perceived as a pressing need. However, even in such a system, it is necessary to specify detailed
learning outcomes to address the problem of wide disparity in performance among different groups of
students. Making textbooks the sole vehicle of standards leads to an over-dependence on the textbook,
resulting in an inflexibility in teaching practice. Further, it is not entirely clear if the textbook creating
mechanism in many states is itself guided by detailed learning standards. Another reason why debate
about learning standards is necessary is the need to continuously review the place and the goals of
mathematics education in the school and how these translate into sub-goals. Reflection on these issues is
an integral part of curriculum development.
I have said earlier that teachers form the frontline of innovation in education. Their participation needs to
be actively engaged in curriculum development. At present, this role is largely confined to giving limited
feedback on textbook drafts. This only allows the collection of opinions; it does not foster innovation and
improvement. Teachers need to be actively involved in innovative design of small units and parts of the
curriculum. What one needs is a mechanism where groups of teachers can make important contributions
at a detailed level and these contributions can be brought together and shared with a wider group. The
role of teachers in developing and fostering innovative practice will form the theme of the following
section.

The practice of Teaching and the Professional Development of Teachers

It is widely known that even the simplest materials can become powerful teaching and learning aids in
the hands of a skillful teacher, while the most carefully designed aid can become completely ineffective if
used unimaginatively. What makes up ‘pedagogic skill’? Is there a way to build such skill? The second
question is more relevant from the point of view of fostering improvement in educational practice. It is
this question that we shall address in this section.
A well-taught mathematics lesson is nothing short of an involved performance. This performance can be
demanding in terms of the teacher’s skill, her alertness, her preparation, her understanding of the
subject, her knowledge of the abilities of individual students and her ability to think on her feet. For a
teacher burdened with several periods of teaching in different subjects’ everyday, it is unrealistic to
expect every lesson to resemble a performance. It is important however to think of key lessons in these
terms and to devote thought and effort in polishing them.

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The book The Teaching Gap, published in 1999, reports the result of a comparative study of mathematics
teaching practices in three different countries: the U.S., Germany and Japan. A large number of lessons
in different types of schools in these countries were videotaped and carefully studied to understand the
factors that contribute to making a lesson successful. The study was a part of the Third International
Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS), carried out in over forty countries to compare the mathematics
and science achievement among students. What is most interesting and pertinent to the issue that we
are discussing in this section is the practice among Japanese mathematics teachers of lesson study.
Lesson study is a research and development activity focused on improvement of classroom teaching
through the development of a research lesson. It is reported to be a widely prevalent practice in
Japanese elementary schools, with one teacher quoted as saying, “you won’t find a school without
research lessons”. The development of research lessons is pursued collaboratively by teachers over a
long period spread through the school year involving a cycle of design, implementation, testing and
improvement. The research lessons that will be developed in a particular year are decided at the
beginning of the year because they represent key topics or concepts or are linked to new educational
initiatives at the school or national level. Besides the fact that this practice is a part of the system of
Japanese elementary education, what is noteworthy is the collaborative aspect of the practice and the
attention to the details of teaching that it embodies.
The account of the development of a research lesson in The Teaching Gap is fascinating. A group of
teachers’ first meet and plan the lesson in great detail over many hours during the first trimester of the
school year. The lesson is then taught to students by one of the teachers, while the other teachers in the
group are present. At the end of day on which the lesson is taught teachers meet to discuss the lesson,
exploring what was successful and what was not. The lesson is then improved and taught again to a
different group of students by either the same teacher or a different teacher. The second time all the
teachers in the school faculty attend the lesson and participate in a meeting where the lesson is again
discussed and analysed. The results of the lesson study are then written up, and sometimes published, in
the form of a report that can be used by other teachers.
The discussion, during the planning of the lesson as well as its evaluation often centres around very fine
details as indicated by the following abbreviated list taken from the book,
x The exact wording and the numbers used in the problem which will be the starting point of the
lesson
x Anticipating the solutions, thoughts and other responses of the students as they struggle with
the problem
x The questions that could be asked to the students to help them at this stage to promote their
thinking
x How to use the blackboard space
x How to handle differences in abilities among students
x The ending of the lesson – considered a key moment to advance students’ understanding

When I first read about the practice of lesson study, its tremendous significance in our own context
struck me. One of the great banes of our system is that teachers hardly have an opportunity to learn
from each other or to improve their skills by working together. The practice of sitting in on a colleague’s
lessons is rare. As a consequence, most teachers whether they are experienced or are novices do not see
enough examples of good teaching. In a complex skill like teaching, observing examples of actual

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teaching is one of the most effective ways of improving teaching. Observation must further be supported
by detailed discussion of the fine points of the lesson and of teaching. This not only enables the sharing
of ideas and experience, but also contributes to building a shared discourse about the practice of
teaching, which as the authors of The Teaching Gap point out, is a necessary condition for the
professionalization of the practice of teaching.
An opportunity to try out our own version of lesson study arose during a resource person training camp
that we conducted for municipal primary school teachers in Mumbai as part of the PRISM (Primary
Science and Mathematics Project). During this camp, teachers together planned lessons in science and in
mathematics, which they taught to a group of students. The pattern followed was a day of meeting and
discussion followed by a day of teaching. The lessons were videotaped and the lessons of the previous
day were available for viewing on the day of planning and discussion. This intensive workshop involved
24 hours of classroom teaching of science and mathematics to a group of class 3 Marathi medium and
class 4 Urdu medium students.
All the teachers were present for all the lessons. The teachers were largely from Marathi, Urdu and Hindi
medium schools. After a session of teaching which consisted of one hour of science and one hour of
mathematics, the teachers discussed the lesson that they had just witnessed. The co-ordinators
constantly strove, through moderation and intervention during the discussion, to maintain an atmosphere
where criticism would be made and received in the right spirit. In the beginning, teachers viewed the
training as being similar to the micro-teaching done during B.Ed. training. There was a tendency not to
focus on actual learning taking place among students. However, as the training progressed, teachers
began to focus on the issue of what the children had actually gained during the lesson. One indicator of
this shift was the perceived need to conduct short assessments of children’s learning during or at the end
of the lesson.
For all the participating teachers the training camp was an intensive learning experience. The co-
ordinators felt that the teaching and the discussions greatly enhanced the confidence and expertise of the
resource group of teachers as was evident from the subsequent teacher training sessions that the
resource group conducted. One independent reviewer of the project who visited participating and non-
participating schools in the project formed a positive impression of its impact, especially on the resource
group of teachers. For us, this experience showed that generating video documentation of classroom
teaching is both feasible and important. Since then HBCSE has initiated a project of generating example
lessons on video.

Conclusion
I have attempted, in this paper, to communicate a sense of the variety of pedagogical resources that are
available and the rationale that underlies their development and use. The point that I have urged is that
the mere availability of these resources will not translate into enhanced learning for our students. The
process of sharing ideas, of developing resources in a collaborative manner, and the mechanisms that
enable teachers to carry this out are a great need in the present context. When this activity is undertaken
in a co-ordinated manner, a shared discourse will develop around mathematics teaching which embodies
a drive for innovation.
The assessment and evaluation of innovations are an organic part of the development process when the
innovation is shaped through repeated trials. Carrying out trials is an essential part of development. Every
practice, innovative or traditional, must be tested for measurable outcomes. One cannot understate the
importance of assessment and performance measurement. However, to interpret this need in terms of an
imperative to carry out controlled experiments is being simplistic. Teaching and learning, as the opening

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sentence of this paper says, are complex processes. Many factors are at work and these factors cannot
be controlled or easily manipulated. The success of a particular practice depends critically on the
teacher’s appreciation of the rationale for the practice, and her skill in effecting it in the classroom. When
an innovation is tested through repeated teaching trials, a ‘lore’ builds up about the details of its
implementation. So a well-articulated innovation comes bundled in a lore that specifies how it could be
implemented. When this lore is communicated and understood, it becomes incorporated into the
collective wisdom of a professional group. It is this possibility that we need to provide for in building a
culture that is truly innovative.

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2004
References

Ball, D. L. 1993 Halves, pieces, and twoths: Constructing representational contexts in teaching
fractions. In T. Carpenter, E. Fennema, & T. Romberg, (Eds.), Rational numbers: An integration of
research (pp. 157-196). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
Becker, J. and Shimada, S. 1997 The open-ended approach: A new proposal for teaching
mathematics. Reston,VA: NCTM.
Bhat K.M. and Subramaniam K. 1997 Activities for the Mathematics Laboratory. Technical Report no.
37, HBCSE
Streefland, L. 1993. Fractions. A Realistic Approach. In T.R. Carpenter, E. Fennema & Th. A.
Romberg (Eds.), Rational Numbers, An Integration of Research Hillsdale NY: Lawrence Erlbaum
Publishers. (pp. 289-327).
Subramaniam K. 2001 Maths for every child. Text-cum-workbook for class 3, HBCSE.
Stigler J. and Hiebert J. 1999 The Teaching Gap: Best Ideas from the World's Teachers for Improving
Education in the Classroom, Free Press

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2004