I saw this quote the other month on Twitter and it made me smile. I feel like in school, math is looked upon more of a nerdy thing and "not cool". Because of this, I feel like it adds to the overwhelming emotions at a tough point in math. I feel like in sports, it is more known in social media that struggling is part of the grind and you will get better because of this. It is funny how this does not translate to the struggle in math (or any other subjects).
This brings me back to the quote I saw above. I think that math is very cool, is needed in many facets in life and is fun. I feel like the discomfort can push students away but if they are shown this quote, know the importance of math and that they understand real life applications of math, they will be more positive towards the struggle. This could definitely benefit students and although is not as easy as what I wrote above, I believe that it is a strategy worth exploring.
I know it will be a future poster in my class.
Any thoughts on this?
Maksym Cord
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Math has the stigma of being a "hard" course because it is centred around dealing with numbers and equations in comparison to a lot of words and concepts like in other classes. It can also be discouraging for students simply because unlike other courses where you can kind of understand the concept and then see if you understood something by being tested on an assignment or a test, in math the test is every question. Hence once a student has hit a wrong answer, multiple times in a row, frustration can take over. I think that's where student's growth mindset and pulling out new skills from their "tool kits" needs to come to play. Just like in basketball, if you're not hitting your 3-point shots it may have something to do with the form of your shot. So you take a minute to recalculate, maybe have a pep talk with your coach, watch how others have took the shot successfully or do some of your own research to review what you can do differently and try being successful again. The same can happen with math! If you're not solving to get the answer successfully, perhaps taking a step back to think over what went wrong in your question, do some research to refresh your knowledge of the concept or reaching out to a teacher or a friend is what needs to be done! Math is like a game, at the end of the day - you need to practice to win!
ReplyDeleteKhan Academy is a really great way for students to achieve this. There they practice skills via Practice portions set out in each concept category. They can also watch videos if they're stuck or receive hints on how to complete the questions. Instructors called "Coaches" can also keep track of student achievement until they have successfully practiced those concepts which is very helpful when monitoring student achievement outside of the classroom!