Comments on: What makes Mathematics hard to learn?

By: greenstrawberries

greenstrawberries — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:11:45 +0000

As a 1st grade teacher, I struggle with the “Math was not my favorite subject in school and now I have to teach it,” syndrome. I had some really great professors in college who helped me to overcome some of that, and I do try to make math fun for the kids. Fortunately, I can do 1st grade level math. :)
The problem with allowing the little ones to solve math problems any way they want to is, that sometimes they come up with a really creative way to do it, but not a way that will work every time. Also, there are some skills that are dependent on the basic, fundamental skills in math. Also, memorizing the multiplication tables, while tedious, is ridiculously useful both in everyday life, and in higher level math.
I agree that the “why” to math was and is not taught well(if at all) in the US. It always frustrated me when my dad (a French man) would ask me, “but WHY is that the answer,” and I would say, “I don’t know!” And he would make me read the text book again. (he REALLY didn’t get the American system…) I was always baffled by this exchange until one day in 9th grade (we were living in France) when the teacher asked us (in French), “But WHY is that the answer?” I blurted out, “OH!” (and thoroughly confused my class and teacher, but I finally understood my dad!) While not a good math student, when we moved back to the US for my 11th and 12th grade years, I did REALLY well in math class. I would sleep during math tests and still get a perfect score. Can’t say that I was doing all of it in English, but I got the answers right, that’s all the teacher cared about.

By: frumpiefox

frumpiefox — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:12:58 +0000

Most of the methods I was taught seemed needlessly complex. And as others have said, most of my teachers weren’t interested in explaining the “why”–not only the why of the method but also the why of “why do I need to do the calculation at all.” I think that’s why I always loved “story problems”–I actually had a “reason” to do the calculations!

Teaching the methods and the arithmetic is kind of pointless for most people if they aren’t also taught how to apply those methods to “real life” problems.

By: Ashish S.

Ashish S. — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:37:12 +0000

How true the statement of mathematics being awfully hard to learn is?
Well, I know I might sound philosphical but mathematics is anything but just the way you look at it.
There I was studying for my Chartered Accountancy exams, when inside I knew that I sucked big time at arithematic/ mathematics skill, right through all of my school life till my college. I was seriously contemplating switching over to a different study stream like arts.

Nevertheless, over a period of time I met some people who seemed to genuinely love Maths. During the course of interactions I happened to discover that they had a way of simplifying everything while calculating – just like the estimation techniques etc.)

At that moment, I resolved that I will take responsibility of the maths menace. After seeking guidance and trying out different sources of learning maths, I begun to make improvement.

Today, I feel so much better and confident of my mathematics/ arthimatic skill. You can well guess my confidence when Im writing here in favour of maths not being that difficult.

P.S-There is a wonderful book by Scott Flansburg by the name of Mathemagic.. You’d like it….

By: Brent

Brent — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:01:20 +0000

I agree with Maki. When I attempt to show another way to solve a problem, my 3rd grade daughter complains, “We have to do it the way the teacher says!”

She’s really good at solving problems, but not always the “right” way. She surprises me with a quick answer, so I’ll ask, how did you solve it? I’m hoping she can get the right answer and then write down the “right way” for full credit. I’m hopeful that colleges will worry more about her correct answers than her elementary grades.

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:07:56 +0000

I teach high school math, and have also taught it in the elementary and junior high schools. I have found that math is primarily a ’skills’ course, whereas most other courses are ‘facts’ course; the former involves solving problems by learning procedure, and the latter involves learning pieces of information, with some skills instruction occasionally mixed in.

One of the things I tell my students is that I am not a ‘my way or the highway’ teacher–if students discover a new method to solving a problem, and it doesn’t involve cheating, and it has 100% accuracy, I want to see it, to make sure it’s mathematically viable, but by all means, use it.

I also encourage the use of mental math, calculating in one’s head. I’m pretty adept at it, so I show students little tricks, including not necessarily starting in the right column or going straight down a column to add numbers.

I also encourage lateral thinking, solving problems where you sometimes have to get answers from out in left field. Math isn’t just about calculation–it’s about how to think.

Unfortunately, learning math is a bridge from year to year, and all it takes is one inferior teacher to cause possibly irreparable damage to a student’s math education.

By: JJ

JJ — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:07:25 +0000

I have dyscalculia, which is like the mathematical equivalent of dyslexia. Rather than actually taking the time to consider that I might have a learning disability, my teachers accused me of “not trying” and tried to force me to learn exactly the way all the other children did. Hence the fact that I made straight A’s in every other subject but failed math for two years in a row.

Over the years, I have finally managed to come up with some alternative ways of solving problems that (usually) work for me. I still hate math, however, and probably always will, because of my terrible experiences with it.

By: Jim

Jim — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:35:16 +0000

Tom is right on the mark!

I taught math at university, and the math for elementary school teachers I taught once in the college of education was the worst class I ever had. About half of the students couldn’t even perform adequately at a secondary school level. I even had a student get up and scream because she couldn’t understand why I was using so many letters. It scared me that these people would be teaching our children! I’m sure they are very caring individuals, and truthfully, I don’t think I could do their job, but I’m sure they are passing on their own distaste for and fear of mathematics to their students.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:01:04 +0000

I think there are two significant problems plaguing America when it comes to math education:

#1: To be successful in mathematics, you have to be willing to memorize certain facts and terminology. Some of the criticisms I’m seeing in the comments are quite valid but they are primarily focused on methods and algorithms. When I work with students who are struggling in math, I often find they don’t know what many words mean and they can’t give me basic facts which fit into the logical framework of a problem. But then, even if the students learn basic facts and terminology, we have problem number 2…

#2: Many elementary schools are filled with teachers who neither like nor understand mathematics. While they care genuinely for their students, these teachers are poorly prepared for teaching math and often let the kids know they don’t much like it themselves. They struggle to get through the lessons and if a child does it an activity differently than the way the “Annotated Teacher’s Edition” says, they are not capable of adjudging whether the student’s methods are appropriate.

Fixing elementary education teacher programs at the college level would help long term but the corrective movements are slow and only somewhat effective. The best we may can hope for is a change in perspective over the course of a generation.

By: lynn

lynn — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 13:50:47 +0000

As a fourth grade teacher, I find that teaching math is a struggle, especially when trying to help students through division. I use “floating point” arethmetic, and have also tried teaching that to the kids- showing them that it’s ok to solve the problem in more than one way. However, that often leaves the little ones all confused. They are not used to there being more than one way to solve a problem. They have been taught -by fourth grade- that you have to do something in only one way. It’s sad. Math should help students build their critical thinking skills, not help them memorize multiplication facts.

By: S

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 06:06:36 +0000

I was very lucky, because my elementary school recognized I did math very well, albeit differently, and put me in the gifted & talented enrichment program (which was not the best thing for my social development, but that’s besides the point). It saddens me that they’ve cut that program now. Getting out of class once a week to actually use your brain and not be bored stiff by the teacher explaining things you already know to people who may or may not even want to learn was awesome.

I still do my math in a “weird” way, which makes it hard to explain things to my friends. As my friend once said to me when she looked at a paper I was turning in, “You put a 5 over there and a -7 over here, and somehow you ended up with 23 as the answer. Which is actually what I got too…”

My problem with math is abstract concepts. If I don’t see how I’m going to use something in every day life as a normal human being, my brain won’t click and let me learn it.
I also suck at factoring equations, which is why I failed my reducing equations quiz in Algebra II yesterday :(