$2+2=4$
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Learning Math in the Age of Online Resources; Or, Why Learning Math is a Social Activity
Hello, and welcome. My first post will serve not only as an introduction to my blog but also as an introduction to an important viewpoint I hold with regard to teaching Mathematics. The title of my post summarizes my belief nicely: I contend that, in the age of countless online videos, Powerpoints, handouts and tutorials, Mathematics learning has now been fully defined as an inherently social activity.
Really, mathematical learning was always a social activity, as is any kind of learning that happens in and out of the classroom. But I think the reason why many regarded (and still see) mathematics as cloistered can be explained in three different ways. First, there is the problem of some Mathematics teachers having neither the training nor the will needed to explain their craft effectively to a wide audience. We can all think of the stereotypical math-teacher-as-drone who, thinking that their only job is to write equations on the board, ends up killing the learning process with their lack of energy or, even worse, their open contempt for those who don't understand what's been written.
An even bigger problem that at first glance appears even less within our control is the prevalence of technologies that directly compete with our students' finite attention spans. There are tablets, gaming systems, computers and cell phones (to name but a few of the new technologies out there) that, within the last decade or so, have utterly transformed the way in which we interact with each other and entertain ourselves. That lighting-fast change in communication power has, I would argue, clearly outpaced the abilities of math teachers to express their ideas. As fellow math teacher Alex Kajitani puts it:
"Let’s be honest here: in a world of iPods, MySpace, cell phones, and video games, math is boring.
Sure, most of us teachers don’t allow these particular tech devices in our classrooms. However, we are still in direct competition with them. Maybe it’s not the actual math that bores the students —
perhaps it’s the way we are presenting it to them." (The full article can be found here: http://alexkajitani.com/pdf/WhyKidsFailMath.pdf)
Finally there is the issue that no math teacher can avoid: the assertion that math is an overly-abstract and therefore useless subject that has no impact on the lives of those who study it, least of all on those who don't see math coinciding with their career or lifestyle interests. This argument certainly gains strength from the other two problems mentioned: if the teacher is a bore, and there are a million other toys that are far more interesting that what's being discussed, then why put any real effort into developing a foundation for something that you'll probably never use again anyway? I think that students employ this argument often simply because it's been so hard for math teachers to come up with a solid refutation. In my opinion one of the best arguments we ever had against it was an appeal to job security, which ran something along the lines of "Study math, and you'll have your pick of the best jobs out there!" The problem with that argument isn't so much that it wasn't true, but that its usefulness has run somewhat dry in the wake of today's post-recession job climate. Even people involved in math and science are struggling to find meaningful, well-paying work in our economy (http://student.fins.com/Articles/SBB0001424052970203733504577026212798573518/College-Students-Find-Math-Science-Engineering-Just-Too-Hard).
So why should we be optimistic that the math teachers of this generation will be able to turn things around? This brings me back to the full development of my thesis: Mathematics learning, as a social activity, can be extended to wide audience, capture our attention and even remain useful later in life through practices of social inclusion and connection. Social media is the platform by which we are enhancing relationships among learners and teachers, thereby advancing the instances of social inclusion and connection that students can recognize (perhaps my blog would be a good example of a new dialogue between reader (learner) and author (teacher) ).
Good examples of these advances include the wild success of educational video hubs like Khan Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org/) and Coursera (https://www.coursera.org/), which easily can find and exhibit the same joys in learning Calculus as one might discover in studying Poetry. For Mathematics-specific learning tools, we also have the excellent videos of Patrick JMT (http://www.youtube.com/user/patrickJMT), as well Paul's Notes (http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/), both which ended up being my secret weapons for learning how to teach all levels of math well. Notice that all of the resources I've mentioned are free, interesting, and easy to use, characteristics which will markedly define any and all of the learning tools we will employ in the classrooms of the 21st century.
Really, mathematical learning was always a social activity, as is any kind of learning that happens in and out of the classroom. But I think the reason why many regarded (and still see) mathematics as cloistered can be explained in three different ways. First, there is the problem of some Mathematics teachers having neither the training nor the will needed to explain their craft effectively to a wide audience. We can all think of the stereotypical math-teacher-as-drone who, thinking that their only job is to write equations on the board, ends up killing the learning process with their lack of energy or, even worse, their open contempt for those who don't understand what's been written.
An even bigger problem that at first glance appears even less within our control is the prevalence of technologies that directly compete with our students' finite attention spans. There are tablets, gaming systems, computers and cell phones (to name but a few of the new technologies out there) that, within the last decade or so, have utterly transformed the way in which we interact with each other and entertain ourselves. That lighting-fast change in communication power has, I would argue, clearly outpaced the abilities of math teachers to express their ideas. As fellow math teacher Alex Kajitani puts it:
"Let’s be honest here: in a world of iPods, MySpace, cell phones, and video games, math is boring.
Sure, most of us teachers don’t allow these particular tech devices in our classrooms. However, we are still in direct competition with them. Maybe it’s not the actual math that bores the students —
perhaps it’s the way we are presenting it to them." (The full article can be found here: http://alexkajitani.com/pdf/WhyKidsFailMath.pdf)
Finally there is the issue that no math teacher can avoid: the assertion that math is an overly-abstract and therefore useless subject that has no impact on the lives of those who study it, least of all on those who don't see math coinciding with their career or lifestyle interests. This argument certainly gains strength from the other two problems mentioned: if the teacher is a bore, and there are a million other toys that are far more interesting that what's being discussed, then why put any real effort into developing a foundation for something that you'll probably never use again anyway? I think that students employ this argument often simply because it's been so hard for math teachers to come up with a solid refutation. In my opinion one of the best arguments we ever had against it was an appeal to job security, which ran something along the lines of "Study math, and you'll have your pick of the best jobs out there!" The problem with that argument isn't so much that it wasn't true, but that its usefulness has run somewhat dry in the wake of today's post-recession job climate. Even people involved in math and science are struggling to find meaningful, well-paying work in our economy (http://student.fins.com/Articles/SBB0001424052970203733504577026212798573518/College-Students-Find-Math-Science-Engineering-Just-Too-Hard).
So why should we be optimistic that the math teachers of this generation will be able to turn things around? This brings me back to the full development of my thesis: Mathematics learning, as a social activity, can be extended to wide audience, capture our attention and even remain useful later in life through practices of social inclusion and connection. Social media is the platform by which we are enhancing relationships among learners and teachers, thereby advancing the instances of social inclusion and connection that students can recognize (perhaps my blog would be a good example of a new dialogue between reader (learner) and author (teacher) ).
Good examples of these advances include the wild success of educational video hubs like Khan Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org/) and Coursera (https://www.coursera.org/), which easily can find and exhibit the same joys in learning Calculus as one might discover in studying Poetry. For Mathematics-specific learning tools, we also have the excellent videos of Patrick JMT (http://www.youtube.com/user/patrickJMT), as well Paul's Notes (http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/), both which ended up being my secret weapons for learning how to teach all levels of math well. Notice that all of the resources I've mentioned are free, interesting, and easy to use, characteristics which will markedly define any and all of the learning tools we will employ in the classrooms of the 21st century.
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