INTRODUCTION

Effective mathematics and science teachers have a coherent and integrated knowledge and vision of learning that is consistent with the Pacific Standards for Excellence in Mathematics and in Science. The teaching standards advocate a shift away from routine work that generally consists of lecture and rote learning to mathematics and science grounded in problem solving and higher-order thinking. This shift calls for new teaching methods that are student-centered, requiring teachers to rethink their concepts about how students learn and what instructional methods promote learning. Teachers must act as facilitators of learning in student-centered classrooms. Like the director of a play, teachers set the stage, but the students are the active participants in the learning process.

Most schools today use a conventional approach to teaching mathematics and science. Learning is dispensed by the teacher and the textbook, with students expected to master a range of topics by listening, reading, and writing. Instead of acquiring understanding, students learn bits of information without much meaning attached to them. This approach to teaching is not effective for lifelong learning. Students need to be prepared for the decisions they will have to make as adults­decisions about their lives, their careers, and their environment. Such decisions are becoming increasingly dependent on a clear understanding of mathematics, science, technology, and related fields. For students to begin to make these decisions, they need to engage in doing meaningful mathematics and science as described in these teaching standards.

Meaningful mathematics and science teaching encourages students to be curious, creative, open-minded, skeptical, willing to suspend initial judgments, able to collaborate with others, and be persistent in the face of challenges. In effective mathematics and science classrooms, the process of finding solutions to problems becomes equally or even more important than getting the right answers. Students are encouraged to ask questions, justify their reasoning, and reflect on their thinking and that of others. Strategies for developing these qualities and thinking processes are discussed in the teaching standards.

Achieving the goal of mathematical and scientific literacy means all Pacific children must be given the opportunity to learn. These teaching standards were developed to help support and guide Pacific teachers as they strive to grow professionally. They present new visions that will enable us to accomplish a comprehensive redesign of mathematics and science education, in which our children begin to learn significant mathematics and science in the earliest grades and continue to build knowledge through twelfth grade and beyond.

Teachers are knowledgeable, capable, and caring and are able to plan and implement quality instructional programs. It is hoped that teachers will take these standards and bring them to life in their classrooms. It is through this life that Pacific children can reach their vision.