I believe that math is something a lot of people can learn and become effective at using, way more than Americans currently believe about themselves.
I think it all comes down to making sure people understand the actual abstractions and concepts rather than formulas and rote learning. The advantage of math is that you can figure stuff out using what you already know, without having to learn every little detail - while that's impossible in other subjects, such as history.
The missing piece is, in fact, granularity and feedback. And real world studies support my position:
I think it all comes down to making sure people understand the actual abstractions and concepts rather than formulas and rote learning. The advantage of math is that you can figure stuff out using what you already know, without having to learn every little detail - while that's impossible in other subjects, such as history.
The missing piece is, in fact, granularity and feedback. And real world studies support my position:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/18/a-better-way...
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/teaching-mat...
If you want to read how I'd reform education and improve the economy, these are my thoughts:
http://magarshak.com/blog/?p=158