Reflection on citizenship education in the context of school mathematics

I totally agree with Elaine’s notion of mathematics education have a lot to offer on citizenship education. One of the civic skills that required for one to be a good citizen is critical thinking ability. critical thinking ability is the skill of able to conceive the complex environment, implies curiosity, skepticism, reflection, and rationality. Thus, a critical thinker will raise and explore questions about beliefs, claims, evidence, definitions, conclusions, and actions. As a teacher candidate, I will emphasis rigor, scientism, robustness, thorough understanding of the mathematical nature to promote the full development of each individual in terms of artistic awareness, personal responsibility, intelligence, sympathy, and spiritual values in my classroom .In particular, starting from a mathematical activity, guess, discovery through individual’s actively participation, and the final generalization of the theorem or gesture. This way, mathematics education can be very closely tied with citizenship education. In our school classroom, we should encourage students think critically and act independently. Consequently, when students walk out of classroom and step into the society, they are able to face any challenges. They then are able to make sound judgments and make contributions to our democratic society.