[MATHEDCC] fear of math
Rob Kimball (rlkimbal@WTCC-GW.WAKE.TEC.NC.US)
Tue, 6 Oct 1998 08:08:37 -0400 (EDT)
with all due respect, I must say that people don't fear math;
what they fear is failure.
Please excuse the personal nature of this response-and I'll try to
be brief. Watching my three children go
through K-12 has provided me with an education that no graduate school
psych or educ course could ever match. My oldest is a HS senior and
is an artist. I watched, with dismay, as her ability and interest
in math decreased through the years. She was never given any reason
that math was important (in school-and of course Dad can't compete
with what the teacher said). She began to dislike the numerous
problems that were required to master an algorithm she saw no use
for. Problems which required thought were always those that
came from the "word problem" section of the book: "trains",
"ages and "the number" problems didn't seem to mean much. So,
she turned them off rather than even think about them. She'll
be successful even without ever knowing the pleasure that
maths can bring.
I've gotton really frustrated "talking" with teachers about how I think the
calculator can open up some more interesting problems, how
statistics and data analysis ("what's that now?" one teacher asked)
can give meaning to maths and how while still teaching the basics we
need to keep students interested and enthusiasitic about math.
And, of course, I was always very tactful.
I feel worse, though, for the children who missed the enjoyment that can
come with success, even success in maths.
maybe the other two stories later:)
Robert L Kimball 919-662-3602 (Office)
Chair, Mathematics and Physics Dept 919-266-0850 (Home)
Wake Technical Community College Raleigh, NC 27603-5696
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