The National Math Trail and Math Standards

The National Math Trail

The National Math Trail and Math Standards

The National Math Trail, as a classroom activity, supports the following standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM):

Connections Standard
http://standards.nctm.org/document/chapter3/conn.htm

Instructional programs from pre-kindergarten through grade 12 should enable all students to-

recognize and use connections among mathematical ideas;

understand how mathematical ideas interconnect and build on one another to produce a coherent whole;

recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics.

Communication Standard
http://standards.nctm.org/document/chapter3/comm.htm

Instructional programs from pre-kindergarten through grade 12 should enable all students to-

organize and consolidate their mathematical thinking through communication;

communicate their mathematical thinking coherently and clearly to peers, teachers, and others;

analyze and evaluate the mathematical thinking and strategies of others;

use the language of mathematics to express mathematical ideas precisely.

Problem Solving Standard
http://standards.nctm.org/document/chapter3/prob.htm

Instructional programs from pre-kindergarten through grade 12 should enable all students to-

build new mathematical knowledge through problem solving;

solve problems that arise in mathematics and in other contexts;

apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve problems;

monitor and reflect on the process of mathematical problem solving.

Additional Standards

Problems created by students as part of National Math Trail submissions may also address other NCTM standards, for example:

Number and Operations
http://standards.nctm.org/document/chapter3/numb.htm

Instructional programs from pre-kindergarten through grade 12 should enable all students to-

understand numbers, ways of representing numbers, relationships among numbers, and number systems;

understand meanings of operations and how they relate to one another;

compute fluently and make reasonable estimate.

Algebra
http://standards.nctm.org/document/chapter3/alg.htm

Instructional programs from pre-kindergarten through grade 12 should enable all students to-

understand patterns, relations, and functions;

represent and analyze mathematical situations and structures using algebraic symbols;

use mathematical models to represent and understand quantitative relationships;

analyze change in various contexts.

Geometry
http://standards.nctm.org/document/chapter3/geom.htm

Instructional programs from pre-kindergarten through grade 12 should enable all students to-

analyze characteristics and properties of two- and three-dimensional geometric shapes and develop mathematical arguments about geometric relationships;

specify locations and describe spatial relationships using coordinate geometry and other representational systems;

apply transformations and use symmetry to analyze mathematical situations;

use visualization, spatial reasoning, and geometric modeling to solve problems.

Measurement
http://standards.nctm.org/document/chapter3/meas.htm

Instructional programs from pre-kindergarten through grade 12 should enable all students to-

understandmeasurable attributes of objects and the units, systems, and processes of measurement;

apply appropriate techniques, tools, and formulas to determine measurements.

For a compendium of standards and benchmarks for K-12 education created by the Mid-continent Regional Education Laboratory (McREL), click here.

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