Teaching and Learning Mathematics is a compilation of research from the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. We were stunned to learn that finding the right answer to a math problem was no longer the point of mathematics class! On page 58, the manual describes the following as “dysfunctional mathematical beliefs”:
1. The goal of mathematical activity is to provide the correct answer to given problems, which always are well defined and have predetermined, exact solutions.
2. The nature of mathematical activity is to recall and apply algorithmic procedures appropriate to the solution of the given problems.
3. The nature of mathematical knowledge is that everything (facts, concepts, and procedures) is either right or wrong with no allowance for a gray area.