Chapter 8 Introduction

New Jersey Mathematics Curriculum Framework - Preliminary Version (January 1995)
© Copyright 1995 New Jersey Mathematics Coalition

CHAPTER 8: THE TEN CONTENT STANDARDS

Introduction

This chapter contains a conceptual overview of each of the ten content standards in the New Jersey Mathematics Standards. Each overview describes the mathematics content contained in that standard, discusses the importance of that content in today's society, notes how the content is developed from kindergarten through grade 12, and highlights the topics and concepts that should be emphasized.

It is intended to be read by school personnel who are responsible for developing and improving the district's curriculum, as well as by teachers who wish to understand their own instructional activities within a K-12 context. It is also intended to be read by parents who have reviewed the Parents' Guide and are interested in getting a more detailed overall picture of what mathematics educators in the state perceive to be a comprehensive mathematics education.

The ten content standards address the following areas:

Number Sense

Spatial Sense and Geometry

Numerical Operations

Measurement

Estimation

Patterns, Relations, and Functions

Probability and Statistics

Algebra

Discrete Mathematics

Conceptual Underpinnings of Calculus

Following this chapter are ten chapters in each of which one of these content standards is addressed individually. Each chapter is intended to be a self-contained discussion of that content area. It begins with a K-12 overview (taken from this chapter) and continues with appropriate information about that standard for each of five grade level clusters.

The materials for each of the grade level clusters, K-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, and 9-12, are also intended to be self-contained discussions of that content area for that grade level. For each of these clusters, the chapter contains a grade level overview (consistent with the K-12 overview of that standard), expectations for that grade level, and activities which illustrate how the expectation can be addressed in the classroom.

Altogether over 1500 activities are described here that support the implementation of the ten content standards of the New Jersey Mathematics Standards.

The materials have thus been arranged so that, for example, 5th grade teachers can focus on the grade level 5-6 sections of Chapters 9-18. Note, however, that the 5th grade teacher should also review the grade level 3-4 material ~ to find out what the student brings to the 5th grade ~ and the grade level 7-8 material ~ to find out what the student will be expected to do at the next grade level; the goal however is that every teacher should be familiar with the mathematics standards and expectations at all grade levels.

The next version of the New Jersey Mathematics Curriculum Framework will be accompanied by a disk so that districts can print the material in various ways for various audiences. Treating the material as a database will also permit updated versions, with extended lists of activities, to be issued periodically on disk.

Although each content standard is discussed individually both in this chapter and those that follow, it is not the intention that each be treated separately in the classroom. Indeed, as noted in Chapter 1, an effective curriculum is one that successfully integrates these areas to present students with rich and meaningful cross-strand experiences. Many of the activities provided in Chapters 9 through 18 are intended to convey this message; you may well be using other activities which would be appropriate for this document. Please submit your suggestions of additional integrative activities for inclusion in subsequent versions of this curriculum framework; address them to Framework, P.O.Box 10867, New Brunswick, NJ 08906.