ABSTRACT

This list is not exhaustive but gives a good f eel f or what we know as teachers makes a child able, bef ore we ever test them to try to prove and quantif y that ability.

As teachers, we know that to teach ef f ectively we need to start f rom where the child is, and then build on their current skills and knowledge. A key problem, however, is that many current teaching practices, which able pupils meet every day in their classrooms, ignore the above list. The nature and structure of the current curriculum means that there is very little time f or considering how we might develop the innate abilities that mathematically able children possess. Much of what we teach is about content rather than the thinking process.