No one is born hating math. Our attitudes about it, positive or negative, are a result of our culture, our interactions with math, our experiences with other people while doing math, and the messages we see daily about mathematics.
What can we do as teachers, and as parents, to address negative stereotypes about mathematics?
Al Gonzalez says:
I’m worried because I hear math teachers stressing over boring kids to death with math computation practice, teaching the “basics,” giving extra homework, having after school tutoring, adding remedial math courses for those not passing “math,” and showing algorithms followed by endless repetition instead of problem solving, exploration, and playing because they fear their students will fail standardized tests. And in HS it’s worse because teachers are further worried that their students won’t graduate because of them! There’s no faith that if kids do math other than the narrow school/tested math that students will pass their tests.
Until teachers lose that fear or until districts and schools take action to save their students from that fear, I don’t see anything changing.
July 18, 2013 — 1:40 am