ONLINE ASSIGNMENT

TOPIC: CURRICULUM STUDY GROUPS, NMP, SMP, SMSG

Submitted To Submitted By
Venugopal Sir Anju Aravind
Submitted On: Reg.No: 13373002
18-09-2014


INDEX
Sl. No. Content Page No.
1 INTRODUCTION 1
2 CONTENT 2 - 4
3 CONCLUSION 5
4 REFERENCE 6
INTRODUCTION

Curriculum study groups are powerful way to transform teaching and learning
through online collaboration among teachers of the same subject and grade under guidance of
master teachers. The goals of curriculum study groups are magnifying the impact of best
teachers, while providing them with potentially the most powerful professional development
of their careers. Reducing needless reinvention of the wheel by enabling participants to build
on the experience and resources of master teachers. Curriculum study groups providing
tangible support for lesson planning, instruction and assessment that goes beyond what is
offered to published curriculum. It making high- quality curriculum based professional
development available to any teacher anywhere.















1


SCHOOL MATHEMATICS STUDY GROUP (SMSG)

The School Mathematics Study Group (SMSG) was an American academic think
tank focused on the subject of reform in mathematics education. Directed by Edward G.
Begleand financed by the National Science Foundation, the group was created in the wake of
the Sputnik crisis in 1958 and tasked with creating and implementing mathematics
curriculum for primary and secondary education, which it did until its termination in 1977.
The efforts of the SMSG yielded a reform in mathematics education known as New
Math which was promulgated in a series of reports, which culminated in a series published
by Random House called the New Mathematical Library. In the early years SMSG also
rushed out a set of draft textbooks in typewritten paperback format for elementary, middle
and high school students.


















2


SCHOOL MATHEMATICS PROJECT (SMP)

Scottish mathematic project was started in 1961 for making improvements in
mathematics curriculum. The mathematics curriculum was reconstructed in Scotland with the
intention of teaching mathematics heuristically in Schools. They prepared with this intention
five text books for the pupils studying for general certificate of education examination at O
level. Later in 1967 they prepared a series of textbook from A to H levels. For the students
studying for CSE Examination. These text books were prepared by considering the problems
and needs of teacher and students. It includes a number of experiments and problem solving
activities. They also prepared hand books for the teachers for effective teaching. This project
produced SMP materials to be used as teaching aids for modern Mathematics in secondary
school, various types of teaching aids and work sheets to be used in teaching and learning
activities.
The contents of syllabus under SMP were different from that of the elementary
mathematics syllabus and the contents included set, number system, structural algebra,
transformation, inequalities, linear programming, statistics, vector, matrix and probability.
The text books published by the SMP received good response and were used extensively in
secondary school in England. However, the contents in SMP text books were too academic
and abstract. It needed a lot of complex logical reasoning in order to understand this concept.











3
NUFFIELD MATHEMATICS PROJECT (NMP)

Nuffield Mathematics Project was launched in the year 1964 for primary school in Britain
and financed by the Nuffield Foundation and support by British Education Ministry. The
main aim of this project was to introduce a new approach as well as new method in teaching
and learning of mathematics for primary student. This project based on Piaget learning
theory which emphasized the importance of learning mathematics through concrete
experience and according to the pupils level of cognitive development between the age of 6
and 12 years old. The philosophy of NMP can be explained with the following expressions:

I listen, I forget;
I see, I remember;
I do, I understand.

In NMP, the contents of this Primary School Mathematics Syllabus was then rearranged to
follow the principle such as from simple to complex, from concrete to abstract and from
nearby-experiences to distance-experiences. Under Dr.Geoffrey Mathews, a team of
mathematics writer was published a lot of teachers guide books and teaching modules for
teachers. Besides, Work sheets and various learning instruments also were produced for
pupils to use during group activities. NMP is a project that received a good response and
successfully in achieving its objectives. NMP had become important source for others
countries like Malaysia. For example, Special Project launched in Malaysia in 1970, to a
large extent, adopted most of the ideas from NMP.







4
CONCLUSION
Curriculum study groups providing tangible support for lesson planning, instruction
and assessment that goes beyond what is offered to published curriculum. They also prepared
hand books for the teachers for effective teaching. The main aim of the curriculum study
group was to introduce a new approach as well as new method in teaching and learning of
mathematics for primary student.


























5

REFERENCE

www.en.wikipedia.org
www.education.org

































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