New Math

The term new math refers to an entire set of teaching methods and practices that was introduced recently in the United States. America followed a traditional style of teaching mathematics; as a result, new math emerged in a new form to get rid of the traditional teaching style of math in United States. The primary aim of introducing this concept is to look for more efficient and outstanding math faculties who could teach the children mathematics properly.

It was in the year 1960 that mathematics was taught at American grade schools. Today, new math has come out with chapters like set theory and numerical bases that are quite essential for a math student. Essentially, new math includes topics like set theories, Venn diagrams, figures, functions and drawings. These topics were advised to introduce at a very early stage when students generally start to learn the fundamentals of mathematics. Even students were provided with axiomatic set theories for coping up with theorems and formulas of mathematics. This was a major contribution of new math.

Controversies were raised by parents of many students that the concept of new math acted as a hindrance to the traditional teachings of mathematics. For instance, arithmetic was considered as an important topic in U.S, however its significance gradually diminished after the introduction of new concepts. Those controversies consequently led to omission of several new concepts from the math syllabus. In the European countries, mathematics curriculum helped students to acquire mathematical abilities through school mathematics project.

Apart from set theories and arithmetical sums, more emphasis was given on transformation geometry in place of Euclid’s geometry. Moreover, calculus was another topic that was considered as a primary section. Later mixed reaction of the people stated that physical science and engineering were the most significant areas. Later in the year 1989, the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics was published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. For the development of the curriculum, the National Science Foundation contributed a lot. These math curriculums were included in the list of the mathematics programs of the U.S. Department of Education.

Debates further followed that instead of traditional arithmetic methods, emphasis were given more on the explanations and descriptions than answers. The group, which supported this view, gave rise to the introduction of “new new math”. Today, most of the professionals and researchers stress on the new math curriculum in order to offer the dents with efficient skills.

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