Welcome to
the Mathematics Department at Dr. G. W. Williams
The Place of Mathematics in the Curriculum
The unprecedented changes that are taking place in today’s
world will profoundly affect the future of today’s students. To meet the
demands of the world in which they will live, students will need to adapt to
changing conditions and to learn independently. They will require the ability
to use technology effectively and the skills for processing large amounts of
quantitative information.
Today’s mathematics curriculum must prepare students for
their future roles in society. It must equip them with essential mathematical
knowledge and skills; with skills of reasoning, problem solving, and
communication; and, most importantly, with the ability and the incentive to
continue learning on their own. The curriculum provides a framework for
accomplishing these goals.
The curriculum embeds the learning of mathematics in the
solving of problems based on real-life situations. Other disciplines are a
ready source of effective contexts for the study of mathematics. Rich
problem-solving situations can be drawn from closely related disciplines, such
as computer science, business, recreation, tourism, biology, physics, or
technology, as well as from subjects historically thought of as distant from
mathematics, such as geography or art. It is important that these links between
disciplines be carefully explored, analysed, and discussed to emphasize for
students the pervasiveness of mathematical knowledge and mathematical thinking
in all subject areas.
Excerpt from
Mathematics: The Ontario Curriculum Grades 9 and 10, 2005