The problem often isn't the student. The problem is often the way maths is taught. Nearly every single one of us solve equations in our head (you have a hundred roubles, buy two bars of chocolate and are left with twenty roubles. The bars cost the same. How much was each bar?)
Maths teachers need to tap into this and show how one way of describing this inner logic of ours is algebra, rather than force the idea of algebra while leaving it as an abstract concept that people never really warm to.
Maths is the only subject taught which is already known. It is taught as facts to remember. It should be taught as a way of describing what we already do.
I have taught maths to more people than I can remember. All of them knew how to do it yet none of them engaged with it at school.
You *can* do maths. You just need to approach it differently.
I was horrible, terrible at Math however, one year I got an A in it. I give the credit solely to my teacher.
I was originally left-handed so my ways of thinking are still very... non left-brained XD I am more of an "artistic" person (which isn't a trait that I ever cared to exploit because I have no interest in the arts), so I attribute that quality to the hard time that I have in regards to learning Math.
That teacher whose class that I did so well in was, unlike all of my other teachers or professors before or after, also an artistic type. He was a musician and a recording artist, however, at some point he realized that he needed a stable, paying job and benefits in order to continue his lifestyle (he ran a recording studio in his home and would sometimes let students come use it), so he changed his major at some point through college and got a teaching certification and became a Math teacher.
I am almost certain that this is why I understood his explanations and methods of teaching and he was certainly very patient and understanding of my inability to comprehend the material as quickly as your average student. Honestly, if I still lived in that town, I would enlist in his tutoring services and would most likely be sailing through college Math right now.
Some of the people I've tutored were very creatively minded (one person was an artist who really couldn't perceive that 50% and a half were the same thing, but she ended up happily solving simultaneous equations. I know simultaneous equations aren't difficult but I do think they're a very good example of mathematical instinct).
I sometimes forget how lucky I am to be neither left-brained or right-brained but both. Although, having said that, you'd think that it'd imply balance when often it implies conflict.
I wanted to be a maths teacher as a profession until I saw how the trainee teachers were treated by students not much younger than them. It was vicious and I didn't think I had the strength of character to deal with it. Shame, really. I probably could have done some good.
I respectfully disagree with some of what you said. I like to think of high school Math as a combination of two things: connections to the real world and notation with rules for manipulating strings. I think that students need a few good examples to demonstrate the connection to the real world and then you merely need to teach them the algorithm for manipulating the string to get the desired answer.
I think that if symbolic computation was taught at a younger age, then each student would be able to quickly pick up new algorithms. And therefore, high school math would become trivial.
Oddly, that's not really disagreeing with me because I feel much the same. The trick is which real world example to use and the ones often chosen don't work for the majority. Some people only have to hear "two trains approach each other, one doing 55mph and the other doing 30mph" and they get freaked out. The questions are written in a certain way (in order to be rigorous, I think). I come from a maths / science / programming background and I appreciate rigour, but I can also see what it does to people who don't think like us. It took me some time to realise some people's brains are *completely* different and trying to force them to learn a certain way just causes reactions like fear of mathematics and hate of it.
The hardest thing is putting yourself in someone else's position, trying to think like they do, as opposed to just getting them to see things as you do. Maths teachers are only people, like everyone else, and they fail in the same way as many people do. Problem is, maths really is a way of thinking, and you've got to get people thinking that way eventually.
If I'd have been taught symbolic computation at a young age, I'd have got a lot from it. In effect, I taught myself as I was programming aged 12 and a published game programmer at 15. But that's me. My mind already works that way. Get me to decipher the meaning of an allegorical poem and I'd have been lost. In the same way it's difficult to teach maths to some students, how should I have been taught to understand poetry? It's kind of the same issue.
i agree with u too..people are not the same,I mean we dont hav the same environment, teachers and even ourselves..we are not the same some ppl likes to draw,sing,party,solve problems, and some even busy making babies..if ur in my part u will also realize that ur not ready to go in a battle without weapon..but still i already joined the battle and im so lucky that i have mates with me! still im so very happy im not lonely..
that's so deep dude..i agree with u and i know that im a badass kid..im suffering now bcoz i use to cutting classes and i dont listen to my teachers especially math teachers..but i know this is not the end of me!
Where the root word is plural (mathematics), the contraction is plural. We don't mind if you want to do it wrongly, though. As long as you don't keep trying to make us do it wrongly too. :)
Is it normal that I'm so dumb in mathematics?
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The problem often isn't the student. The problem is often the way maths is taught. Nearly every single one of us solve equations in our head (you have a hundred roubles, buy two bars of chocolate and are left with twenty roubles. The bars cost the same. How much was each bar?)
Maths teachers need to tap into this and show how one way of describing this inner logic of ours is algebra, rather than force the idea of algebra while leaving it as an abstract concept that people never really warm to.
Maths is the only subject taught which is already known. It is taught as facts to remember. It should be taught as a way of describing what we already do.
I have taught maths to more people than I can remember. All of them knew how to do it yet none of them engaged with it at school.
You *can* do maths. You just need to approach it differently.
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NeuroNeptunian
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I was horrible, terrible at Math however, one year I got an A in it. I give the credit solely to my teacher.
I was originally left-handed so my ways of thinking are still very... non left-brained XD I am more of an "artistic" person (which isn't a trait that I ever cared to exploit because I have no interest in the arts), so I attribute that quality to the hard time that I have in regards to learning Math.
That teacher whose class that I did so well in was, unlike all of my other teachers or professors before or after, also an artistic type. He was a musician and a recording artist, however, at some point he realized that he needed a stable, paying job and benefits in order to continue his lifestyle (he ran a recording studio in his home and would sometimes let students come use it), so he changed his major at some point through college and got a teaching certification and became a Math teacher.
I am almost certain that this is why I understood his explanations and methods of teaching and he was certainly very patient and understanding of my inability to comprehend the material as quickly as your average student. Honestly, if I still lived in that town, I would enlist in his tutoring services and would most likely be sailing through college Math right now.
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dappled
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Some of the people I've tutored were very creatively minded (one person was an artist who really couldn't perceive that 50% and a half were the same thing, but she ended up happily solving simultaneous equations. I know simultaneous equations aren't difficult but I do think they're a very good example of mathematical instinct).
I sometimes forget how lucky I am to be neither left-brained or right-brained but both. Although, having said that, you'd think that it'd imply balance when often it implies conflict.
I wanted to be a maths teacher as a profession until I saw how the trainee teachers were treated by students not much younger than them. It was vicious and I didn't think I had the strength of character to deal with it. Shame, really. I probably could have done some good.
--
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the problem here is the book! some books are too confusing and its getting hard everytime u read em..
I respectfully disagree with some of what you said. I like to think of high school Math as a combination of two things: connections to the real world and notation with rules for manipulating strings. I think that students need a few good examples to demonstrate the connection to the real world and then you merely need to teach them the algorithm for manipulating the string to get the desired answer.
I think that if symbolic computation was taught at a younger age, then each student would be able to quickly pick up new algorithms. And therefore, high school math would become trivial.
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dappled
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AnusFaceKitty
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Oddly, that's not really disagreeing with me because I feel much the same. The trick is which real world example to use and the ones often chosen don't work for the majority. Some people only have to hear "two trains approach each other, one doing 55mph and the other doing 30mph" and they get freaked out. The questions are written in a certain way (in order to be rigorous, I think). I come from a maths / science / programming background and I appreciate rigour, but I can also see what it does to people who don't think like us. It took me some time to realise some people's brains are *completely* different and trying to force them to learn a certain way just causes reactions like fear of mathematics and hate of it.
The hardest thing is putting yourself in someone else's position, trying to think like they do, as opposed to just getting them to see things as you do. Maths teachers are only people, like everyone else, and they fail in the same way as many people do. Problem is, maths really is a way of thinking, and you've got to get people thinking that way eventually.
If I'd have been taught symbolic computation at a young age, I'd have got a lot from it. In effect, I taught myself as I was programming aged 12 and a published game programmer at 15. But that's me. My mind already works that way. Get me to decipher the meaning of an allegorical poem and I'd have been lost. In the same way it's difficult to teach maths to some students, how should I have been taught to understand poetry? It's kind of the same issue.
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AnusFaceKitty
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i agree with u too..people are not the same,I mean we dont hav the same environment, teachers and even ourselves..we are not the same some ppl likes to draw,sing,party,solve problems, and some even busy making babies..if ur in my part u will also realize that ur not ready to go in a battle without weapon..but still i already joined the battle and im so lucky that i have mates with me! still im so very happy im not lonely..
that's so deep dude..i agree with u and i know that im a badass kid..im suffering now bcoz i use to cutting classes and i dont listen to my teachers especially math teachers..but i know this is not the end of me!
*MATH
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dappled
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Where the root word is plural (mathematics), the contraction is plural. We don't mind if you want to do it wrongly, though. As long as you don't keep trying to make us do it wrongly too. :)