We are different from most of our students

“It seems like the groundswell of people who hate, fear or are frustrated by math are in the majority.” 

Margaret Paton, 2018

This includes the majority of our students.

It is very important for us to understand that we are different from most of our students.

Therefore, we should not assume that they think or learn in the same way as us.

We need to know how they think, and what they are thinking in order to teach them to develop good mental models.

The next sections discuss what we know about the way students think when they are learning maths. The final sections discuss what we know about teaching to develop good mental models in students.