Teaching Math should
shift toward new methods!
We've been all taught math through classical ways. First, the rule will be provided to you
and then questions bearing in mind that practice makes perfect. It is necessary
to have a deep understanding on how to use those rules and formulas in real life and how
to make use of them. Here are two ways in order to improve the math taught at
the present time.
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| Math of the present time! |
One way is by having
specialty teachers assigned to teach the subject.Teaching Math for younger students
from a homeroom teacher (with no Math background) could have a negative impact
about how interesting or boring the subject can be. A specialty teacher can
relate a lot to real life example while teaching Mathematics. That makes the
lesson more interesting and appealing to the students. Moreover, a specialty
teacher have multiple ways to explain the concepts when the students find the
book confusing or the way taught is difficult to understand. A specialty teacher
can manipulate any formula and makes it easier to grasp. In addition, a math
specialty teacher can always relate to old concepts being used so that way
students can have deeper understanding.
Another way is to get
students engaged into application of mathematics. For instance, the use of iPad/Tablets
and more technological tools that can enhance to a great deal student’s learning. It is important to have knowledge about the basic rules but sometimes
it gets overwhelming that students' focus will be more toward scoring higher in
the exams and therefore their creativity is killed. For instance, provide all
the rules and formulas to students and make them synthesize a solution instead
of memorizing. Doing so can enhance students learning by engineering creative
ways to get to the solutions. Having done with the task, then provide an
application where the solution synthesized can be used. Therefore students will
never forget about the concept and math would be fun to understand.
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| Math of the near future? |
Finally the big question
to ask is when such a shift take place? And if it happened, would it be beneficial to the students?
Great post! I couldn't agree more! I definitely believe that this shift would be beneficial to the students. Math sometimes has a bad reputation for being boring, or not applicable to the real-world. However, that is the farthest thing from the truth. As you mentioned, I think a huge factor in changing this reputation would be having specialty teachers assigned to the subject. Or at the very least, giving current teachers (without a math background) the support and guidance they need to teach math to it's full potential. This is something that we will hopefully see a change in soon. As a recent graduate of the two-year teacher's college program, I can give you hope that we may be taking a couple of steps in the right direction. There has been a huge push in teachers college towards mathematics. For example, everyone had to take at least one math course in order to graduate teachers college (even the high school candidates that don't even have math as any of their teachables). Hopefully this increased awareness and knowledge of the pedagogy of mathematics will help us reach this shift that needs to take place.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post. I think the idea of a Specialty Mathematics teacher in schools could be really beneficial (especially at the grade 7 and 8 levels). During my placements, this is not something I really witnessed a lot. It made me wonder if this is something not being used in the elementary panel in Canada, and if it is a reality in other countries/provinces?
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