
Why Math Might Be the Secret to School Success - JSeymourATL
http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/12/09/367814446/why-math-might-be-the-secret-to-school-success
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eastbayjake
I was _shocked_ listening this morning that only 58 seconds of every 5 hour
preschool day are spent on math.

In my experience, elementary school teachers tend to be soft-skills people who
primarily just love working with young children. Many didn't enjoy math, felt
they were bad at it, and would prefer to teach children reading and writing.
And because elementary schools have one teacher guide the same group of
children through all four core subjects instead of specializing in one subject
(like middle or high school teachers) the teacher's less-preferenced subjects
get less time.

Source: former (public) high school science teacher

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clarkmoody
I am interested to hear if high-school/college style teaching has been tried
at the elementary level. And what were the outcomes?

Specifically, have schools tried to partition students into courses based on
achievement level, regardless of age? There would be the Math 1 course that
might have 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders in it, and Math 2 might have brighter 1st
graders, etc.

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pmalynin
Well, yes and no. I can only speak from my experience of doing grades 1
through 7 in a Ukrainian school and then 8-12 in Canada. The year I went into
school I was placed into the "Sapling" (Rostok) programme, which was a _very_
accelerated "experimental" programme. I remember that in Grade 2 we were
learning Venn Diagrams and basic set notation. And so on. By Grade 4 we were
allegedly 2-3 years ahead of the "regular" system. Now when I got to Canada in
Grade 8 I honestly did not know what to do with myself, the level of math I
was exposed simply eclipsed what was being taught (Integer beads, the fuck?)
and this has been my general experience of the school system up until Grade 12
where we started doing Calculus (which in "Sapling" was supposed to be done in
Gr. 9-10).

The problem, I think, is not that kids can't learn (in fact the amount
neuroplasticity in young children is simply off the charts, to the point where
6-7 year olds who can play really good violin are not something special), but
is that the educational system simply does want to go there, to increase the
levels of math taught in schools.

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cmollis
I believe this is also called 'business as usual'... but you actually put it
much better.

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japhyr
I've spent much of the last twenty years teaching math to middle and high
school students who had previously been burned out on math. I teach in an
environment where I get to let students progress at their own pace. Everyone
gets a clear set of math milestones laid out, and they earn their credit when
they reach those milestones. Students see me mostly as someone who helps them
reach objective milestones, not as someone who tells them they can't do math
again.

One of the most significant issues I see is there's often no way back into
math if a student gets off track early on. My students typically got confused
in 2nd-5th grade, and then math never made sense again. When given the space
to work independently, with support, at their own pace, they get to clear up
old confusions and realize how much they're capable of when they're not under
pressure to keep up with everyone else.

One of the things I enjoy most is taking students who haven't understood math
since 3rd grade, and bringing them to a place where they can start to use
algebra to solve problems they care about. From then on, they are set up to
make good use of math the rest of their lives.

I have a 3 1/2 year old son now, and it's fascinating to watch his development
after having been a teacher for so long. He's in that wonderful stage now
where "22" is just as big as "a million", and when he wants to describe a
large number of things he just strings random numbers together: "Dad, there's
23 45 8 17 100 stars in the sky tonight!" Just the other night he asked, "What
do you get when you add 3 and 3?" It's fascinating to watch that understanding
develop, and to just keep answering his questions honestly, with the mindset
of giving him a strong foundation for more advanced concepts later on.

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ksk
Do you have any tips as to how to get kids to sit down and work on math stuff
again?

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japhyr
I teach high school right now. I ask students in each class what their math
experiences have been; I give them space to vent, and make it okay to say, "I
hate math." In every class I've had, there's also been someone who says, "I
love math." We then talk about what has worked for people and what hasn't. I
explain much of what I wrote in the comment above; many students have been
blaming themselves for years of failure, and have never realized that weren't
offered a way back into math. On the other hand, some students have blamed
everyone but themselves and they need to start taking responsibility for
themselves, and we have that honest conversation.

Everyone needs motivation to learn anything meaningful. Motivation for
students can come from a desire to earn credit and graduate, a desire to be
able to do a certain job, or a desire to catch up on things they haven't
understood for a long time.

I connect each student's math learning plan with their job and career goals.
Most of my students are at an age where that can work, if they can see the
connection. This isn't just a utilitarian approach; we also talk on a regular
basis about the wonders of math, and how there are efficient strategies but
there are no math "tricks". I break their work into the smallest possible
chunks they can earn credit for, so they get to see academic success as soon
as possible.

I'm happy to share more specific thoughts here or through email, if you have a
particular situation you're trying to sort out.

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endgame
That's great and major props for helping those who fell behind. I remember
taking classes at the maritime college and watching all these people (who were
probably way better at ships or engines than I was) struggle mightily with
speed-distance-time calculations, batteries in series/parallel or Ohm's law.
It was really depressing - how can our education systems fail so many people?

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Kevin_S
As someone who hated math in k-12 and excelled in reading, this is interesting
to me. I have gotten more into math as a soon to be college graduate,
(Econ/Acct) where I have learned I am not bad at math, and the math I have
done for my degree, econometrics, calculus, were all interesting (though not
on a high level). I think if I had been taught math as a child better than
what I was, I would have moved more toward a CS/CE/data engineering degree
instead of business. The math scared me off.

For my kids I look forward to trying to supplement their K-12 education (math
especially) with other forms of education that I hope foster an interest in
math. K-12 never really gave me a chance to find math interesting.

Does anyone have any great tools/resources to help supplement public math
education?

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GregBuchholz
Well I just finished reading a book:

Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas

...which I found my self saying "yes" to out loud while reading it. It's
premise is that people can learn better when there is an aspect they can
interact with, and computers can provide simulated environments in which to
explore concepts. Some of the examples given are younger kids exploring ideas
in differential geometry through the use of turtle graphics. It is hard to get
across in a small snippet of text, but I kept thinking that was how I wanted
to be taught back in school. You compare how kids are self motivated to learn
complex tasks like walking, talking, etc. but lose a lot of motivation when
required to memorize dull facts about the interior angles of triangle.

There's not a lot of concrete actionable items here, other than getting that
book, and maybe downloading a Logo interpreter to play with.

I've just started to work with teaching my own kids programming, so I don't
have a lot of advice at this point, but I hope the book is as inspirational to
you, as it was to me.

[https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=mindstorms:+children+co...](https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=mindstorms:+children+computers+powerful+ideas)

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hcarvalhoalves
> You compare how kids are self motivated to learn complex tasks like walking,
> talking, etc. but lose a lot of motivation when required to memorize dull
> facts about the interior angles of triangle.

Funny you mention this. I remember being taught the sum of the internal
angles, the pythagorean theorem and other facts by folding paper triangles.

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brettkc
Is this actually a secret? Having recently gone through the 'math gauntlet'
that is a formal CS education, it is astounding the number of people
frightened to death of mathematics.

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numeromancer

        Gayle Conigliaro's preschool students are jumping as they count, 
        to get the feeling of the numbers into their bodies — a concept 
        called "embodied cognition."
    

My 4 year-old learned all about circles by spinning round and round. Math
makes her just giddy with excitement! She can't calculate circumference yet,
but that doesn't matter, because I feel confident that she has embodied the
cognition. I'm taking her to the playground tomorrow so she can do line
integrals on the monkey bars.

Can we bring back the scowling school-marms now?

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sp332
There are many, many ways to count and to comprehend magnitude. Jumping is a
valid one.

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peter303
My father played math games with me when I was little. Made it exciting, not
fearful. Grade school math was kind of slow and boring. Didnt get more
interesting until algebra.

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clueless123
As much as I remember, Montesory schools teach math concepts every day all
through out the day.

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secabeen
If you are looking for an example of this, check out the PBS show Peg + Cat.

