Robin Pemantle’s new book about teaching math is, as he puts it, “eclectic.”
“There are many successful math educators who do things differently,” explains Pemantle, “who have ideas that anyone could use to make their teaching better.” That’s why, rather than advocate for an overarching philosophy about math education, the text—appropriately titled “There is No One Way to Teach Math” pulls from “many founts of wisdom.”
The book is the first of two volumes that Pemantle, a professor of mathematics in Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences, co-wrote with Henri Picciotto, a longtime K-12 math teacher and curriculum developer. In 2024, Pemantle also published the second edition of “Analytic Combinatorics in Several Variables.” That text showcases his expertise in probability theory and combinatorics—an expertise he was honored for with a 2024 election to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
“There is No One Way to Teach Math” draws from Pemantle’s decades of specialization and expertise, along with his recognition of the challenges and opportunities presented by a broader math education.
Geared at middle and high school educators, their new book offers immediately actionable material such as lesson plans, as well as invitations for reflections and making connections across math disciplines. The second volume, currently being written, is called “Beyond the Math Wars”; it looks at the state of math education today and how it developed.
American debate about the best way to teach math goes back to the 1950s, Pemantle says, and has become increasingly politicized. “There is No One Way to Teach Math” is not interested in settling this debate. In a chapter about assessment, for example, the book does not delve into the pros and cons of standardized testing, but instead outlines approaches that teachers can take in the classroom, advocating for something that combines formative testing (in which students have the opportunity to work through problems multiple times without being penalized for mistakes), and evaluative testing, like an exam with “right” or “wrong” answers.
Read more at Omnia.