提高教师的数学技能对学生有利

黄连英

Many elementary school teachers say they dislike the idea of teaching mathematics even at the most basic level. That is a cause for concern among educators.

Experts say it is indispensible for students to have a solid foundation in math because each math skill builds on another one. Research published by the National Institutes of Health （NIH） found that math is a common cause of anxiety for adults， especially for women. About 90 percent of elementary teachers in the U.S. are women.

The Erikson Institute in Chicago is a graduate school centered on child development. The school holds a yearly math conference where elementary teachers can ease their anxiety about math. Teachers find out how young children learn math and plan activities for the classroom.

During the Erikson Institutes summer meeting， teachers work with math concepts that they can use in the classroom. For example， the group built 10-sided shapes out of colored blocks. These exercises helped the teachers with their own math skills.

Jennifer McCray is a research professor at Erikson. She said the best way to see how a child will perform in math up through eighth grade is to learn how the child did in math when they started kindergarten.

Lauran Solarski is a trainer with the Early Math Collaborative at Erikson. She told a group of educators， “Theres a misbelief that in order to teach early childhood math， you dont really need to know math well.”

Lisa Ginet is the director of operations at Erikson. She said that early childhood teachers do not necessarily need to be experts in complex math subjects like algebra and geometry. But they need to understand that many of the skills they are teaching are connected to mathematical thinking and to subjects that students will learn later in school.

Heather Peske， the president of the National Council on Teacher Quality said， “If we prepared teachers better， they would be stronger at both their math knowledge as well as their ability to teach math， and this would reduce their anxiety and improve student outcomes.”

（材料來自51VOA网站，有删改）

1. What does the underlined word “indispensible” in Paragraph 2 mean？

A. Essential. B. Independent.

C. Difficult. D.Establishable.

2. Which of the following isnt true according to the text？

A. Many adults feel anxious because of math.

B. Anxiety affects men and women equally.

C. Men teachers are in the minority in elementary schools.

D. Many elementary school teachers dislike teaching maths.

3. How is the passage mainly developed？

A. By making comparisons.

B. By making different arguments.

C. By giving examples.

D. By listing some arguments.

4. What can be learnt about early childhood teachers according to the last two paragraphs？

A. It isnt necessary for early childhood teachers to know math well.

B. They had better be experts in complex maths subjects.

C. Their teaching skills should be related to students thinking.

D. The improvement of their teaching ability helps improve students outcomes.

1. A。解析：詞义猜测题。材料第二段中画线词所在句子的大意为“专家表示，对学生来说，在数学这个科目上有牢固的基础是必不可少的，因为数学技能之间是相辅相成的”。“indispensible”有“必不可少的”之意，故选A。

2. B。解析：细节理解题。根据材料第二段第三句“About 90 percent of elementary teachers in the U.S. are women”，我们可排除C选项；根据材料第一段第一句“Many elementary school teachers say they dislike the idea of teaching mathematics even at the most basic level”，我们可排除D选项。根据材料第二段第二句中的“math is a common cause of anxiety for adults， especially for women”，我们可知“数学是成年人焦虑的常见原因，尤其是对女性而言”，因而A选项与文意相符，B选项与文意不符。故选B。

3. C。解析：推理判断题。材料第三段和第四段列举了芝加哥的埃里克森研究院如何提高教师的数学技能，材料最后三段分别展示了Lauran Solarski、Lisa Ginet和Heather Peske对于早期数学教育的看法。因此，这篇文章主要是通过举例子来展开的。故选C。

4. D。解析：推理判断题。材料最后一段提到“如果我们让教师做好准备，他们的数学知识会更深厚，数学教学能力会更强，这将减少他们的焦虑，提高学生的成绩”，由此可知，教师教学能力的提高有助于学生成绩的提高，故选D。