Math is everywhere, and we have to deal with it daily. Without knowing it we calculate how long until we need our next fill up at the gas station, or how much change we'll be getting back. The human brain is capable of incredible physics calculations, like catching a ball or not ramming your car into the one in front of you, without any math being brought to the conscious mind at all. It's weird then, that so many people shut down as soon as they are asked to work out math consciously. People avoid math, hate it, fear it even, but most of all I think people just don't want to look stupid by getting the math wrong.
The frustrating thing about a fear of math is that almost everyone is capable of performing the basic math skills that you need in everyday life. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who shut down once math reared its ugly numeric head. At some point in their personal development math stopped being intuitive and just started being hard.
Personally, I've never had a problem with math. From addition, to physics, to basic calculus (I've never gone past the absolute basics, although I can imagine that things get rather tricky rather quickly) things always just sort of made sense. I'm not entirely sure if this is a good thing from a teaching perspective. If I have never known, what I imagine to be, the immensely frustrating struggle of dealing with math how can I help others deal with it? The answer, newer teaching techniques seem to suggest, is to integrate math into other parts of the curriculum. So, how does one do that? I don't exactly know. I suppose that is why I'm going to school to be educated as an educator.
The frustrations associated with learning math seem innate in some people. Where exactly this stems from I'm not sure, but I have seen the way people shut down when math is brought up. Some people act as though math is unimportant, others try and hide behind their other intelligences. Still others hide behind a wall of forced ineptitude in order to avoid the horrors of math altogether. And although it is true that in today's society of forced specialization fewer and fewer people need to know math, learning it expands the mind and develops problem solving skills that will pay out some pretty serious returns in the long run.
I totally agree that the basics in math aren't that challenging. But me being a student who struggled with what was beyond the basics can see how mathophobia can develop and cause a lot of stress to some people. I was absolutely one of those people that tried to hide behind the fact that in the majority of other classes I took I was top of the class. When it came to math I never understood what the value was in learning certain topics because in reality when would we actually use this? I agree with you that math expands the mind but also I think that if a child doesn't need to know a certain topic then why force them to learn it or possibly struggle with something they wont use in there later life.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the basics in math are not challenging. there are many people that say math is to complicated for them and they just shut down never realizing that even when they do not realize that they are doing math a lot through out the day. But I was one of those people for sometime that could not get passed the basics of math. Up until a certain time I was always scared of doing math, and most of my teachers did not really help with that until I finally had one that did.
ReplyDeleteThe point you brought up about others hiding behind their other areas of intelligence does make sense! I never really noticed it specifically but now that you mention it I do see people act in this manner. In my life I have seen more people rave about their level or skill in language or history, but when math is brought up the raving is so little it's as if they don't want to share their appreciation for math. It's sad that so many people find a dislike in the subject of math, even the basics make people cringe! The truth is we use math everyday just as you stated, and I hope as teachers, we can create a new wave of appreciation for math in the children we teach.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the point that you made in your mathopobia post about how the human brain is capable of incredible physics calculations with out consciously doing doing any math. Additionally i thought the examples you gave were perfect. you definitely may be on to something when you claim that mathophobia is a result of people not wanting to look stupid getting the wrong answer. That really made me wonder if my main issue is a lack of confidence in my ability to do math. i also agree when you say that people say math is unimportant by hiding behind other strengths. Finally, your closing point was great. I feel as though I'm doing something positive for my future self by taking my math class seriously and trying to learn something.
ReplyDeleteHey Jake,
ReplyDeleteYou always have some interesting things to say when it comes to math and learning. It could be because you didn't really have to struggle in the understanding and 'doing' of math. I believe people have math brains or they don't. Unfortunately, I don't. I know that I can learn but it can be frustrating at times not being able to remember the concept.
I do agree with you about teachers. Some are better than others and I think math is a subject that helps to have an interesting and fun teacher. For me, I can make a connection better that way.
Anyway, keep up the good work!
Susan