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Math Educations: who needs it, how much and when?
July 23, 2014 at 2:08 pm
(This post was last modified: July 23, 2014 at 2:10 pm by Whateverist.)
True confessions: I teach this stuff. I enjoy the subject. I like people .. including young ones. I've always said I like teaching math because it is the easiest subject in which to reach clarity and test for validity. I've even said I am covertly teaching critical thinking. But I sometimes wonder about the level of specificity of what is taught.
That's where my question comes from. Teaching middle school I'm charged with teaching kids what seems to many of them very complex and esoteric. So, for me, I sometimes wonder .. am I making everyone practice piano 2 hours a day just so those few who go on to become virtuosos will have received a proper start?
I was just looking at youtube videos of people complaining about the common core. (I start teaching that in a month so my jury is out.) Then I came to this TED talk in which someone with my job asks and offers an answer to my question. Thoughts?
http://youtu.be/xyowJZxrtbg
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RE: Math Educations: who needs it, how much and when?
July 23, 2014 at 2:26 pm
You teach maths? I was needing to solve a problem urgently. Not for me, for my girlfriend who's having an exam tomorrow (geometry, involving math)
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you
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RE: Math Educations: who needs it, how much and when?
July 23, 2014 at 2:31 pm
I haven't taught any substantial geometry in .. forever .. but I've just worked through the units on congruence and similarity. (Both are pretty cool.) So what's the problem? If I don't find a way to help I bet someone else here can.
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RE: Math Educations: who needs it, how much and when?
July 23, 2014 at 2:33 pm
I hated math all throughout my early education (through high school). Then, when I got to college, I met a math professor who was passionate about mathematics. His passion for concepts and formulas was contagious, I caught his passion, and I became TA and class tutor. It was his passion that helped me realize my own. NEVER doubt or underestimate the powerful influence your passions can have upon someone who is eager to discover their own. I'm less in love with math now, but for me, that man will forever be a signpost pointing in a good direction. Do I use the math very often? Honestly - no. But I do often refer to the other valuable lessons he taught me.
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RE: Math Educations: who needs it, how much and when?
July 23, 2014 at 2:35 pm
(July 23, 2014 at 2:31 pm)whateverist Wrote: I haven't taught any substantial geometry in .. forever .. but I've just worked through the units on congruence and similarity. (Both are pretty cool.) So what's the problem? If I don't find a way to help I bet someone else here can.
It's a problem involving triangles and angles, the 3 types of triangles and drawing one as required. I don't remember much of this from basic school so I can't help her but it seems like a simple problem. I didn't even have maths on highschool
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you
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RE: Math Educations: who needs it, how much and when?
July 23, 2014 at 2:43 pm
(This post was last modified: July 23, 2014 at 2:44 pm by Bibliofagus.)
Watched the video. And I kinda agree with the conclusions.
When I was in high school I scored straight A's at math at some point. But I didn't like it, so I tried dropping it. My parents agreed with me...
The school however didn't. First I got invited for some talks, they called my parents, and when that didn't work they just - accidentally - listed me for math. If I didn't show up, I'd get punished :S My grades dropped like crazy, and not only the math ones.
This joke cost me a year of my life and a lot of friends. And the thing was: I knew why my grades were so high in math, and I knew it was not because I had any special math abilities. All that had happened was that I stopped to try to understand - why - math is the way it is, and approach it in a more pragmatic way: Just learn to recognize the patterns in the exercise and remember the steps you have to take to get to the correct answer.
On the other hand I have a friend who teaches geography. Over here that subject involves sociology, anthropology and it takes the kids into psychics and cosmology. On the latter subjects he uses comics he draws himself to get them involved. He told me he started doing it because most of the stuff he teaches can be shared in the form of stories... Except the physics. So he started making stories out of it himself.
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RE: Math Educations: who needs it, how much and when?
July 23, 2014 at 2:51 pm
I dunno if the Piaget scale still is valid. The abstraction capacity needed comes with age. I doubled my respect for you whateverist, keep teaching math. Its an inglorious job, as everyone hates the math teacher 
Keep at it and refine your art.
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RE: Math Educations: who needs it, how much and when?
July 23, 2014 at 4:36 pm
(July 23, 2014 at 2:43 pm)Bibliofagus Wrote: Watched the video. And I kinda agree with the conclusions.
That's okay. I kind of do too. I mean lots of teachers enjoy the subject they teach but they don't all get the opportunity to inflict it on everyone whether they want it or not. While a certain level of being able to use math appropriately is important for everyone, that probably gets covered by the end of elementary school.
Of course, and especially here in the states, the argument against letting kids opt out is that the kids with the least support and wherewithal at home would be the ones opting out. So we'd basically be serving to maintain the status quo and doing nothing to give anyone a leg up.
There is plenty to say about why someone might like higher math, but that's true about lots of subjects. Well, I'm close to retirement and frankly won't miss answering the question of when are we ever going to need this.
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RE: Math Educations: who needs it, how much and when?
July 23, 2014 at 4:42 pm
If set A belongs to the set of all sets that it doesn't belong, what is it?
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RE: Math Educations: who needs it, how much and when?
July 23, 2014 at 5:15 pm
I think that if you allow kids to opt out of math.... 99.99% of them will opt out.
Most schools will have no reason to employ a full-time math teacher and the profession will decline and decline.... and future generations will grow up without knowing how to solve an equation... without knowing what an equation is... a function... how to properly add and subtract fractions...
There are a lot of things we have no professional use for, indeed.... but we learn a certain terminology which we then apply in other areas and can draw some parallels.
Also, with no math teacher around, those who would opt-in, would most likely have to move to where there still are math teachers... and how many families have the willingness and finance to do that?
I think you should never give the kids the option to opt-out. They'll miss out on way too much.
This "choice" thing... give kids the ability to chose what they want to learn... reminds me of two TED talks I heard today:
http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_..._of_choice
and
https://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar...f_choosing
hmmm.... kids don't want to choose.
Keep teaching them math.
We are living in a technological era which involves lots of numbers and it's good to have an idea of how to manipulate them to get useful information out of it...
eg.: 1080p, 16:9.... how many pixels are in your FullHD tv?
eg.2: 12Mpixel camera, 4:3 frame... how many rows of pixels are in this frame?
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