Why are so many of
our students so mathematically afraid?
Primary school
teachers are given the responsibility of teaching the four core subjects without
possessing sufficient knowledge and understanding of mathematics to teach it
effectively. In stating this, here are some implications.
Teaching the
traditional way makes mathematics boring. For example, even though many teachers consistently use concrete
materials to introduce ideas, they use them only for an introduction; the goal
is to get to the abstract, symbolic, established mathematics. Students may be unable to visualize the concepts
taught by the teacher, therefore, their interest levels go down, which leads to
a disassociation with the subject.
Moreover, students
may have had bad recollections of their attempt in mastering skills in the
subject at the lower levels of education and hence they shut themselves out. In
addition, a poor math teacher who has no personal appreciation for the subject
would not be able to create ways to make it interesting for students. “Poor”
could also mean neglecting students in class who are slow. Such slow students
give up after some time, noting that the teacher loves being around the ones
who get most of their answers correct – not the “slow ones”.
Why do so many of them appear so distant and so disinterested
in so many aspects of classroom mathematics?
Math
teachers often do not inspire students with an appreciation for mathematics,
instead the subject is taught by rote memorization. In doing so, children are unable
to troubleshoot math problems using different strategies.
Furthermore, students
may fail to progress in a math class, they may feel incapable and avoid math as
much as possible in the future, because they do not know the value of math (the
importance of math).
Personally, I can
recall from my math class at the primary level, how my teacher would often incorporate
the use of a strap in his lesson, this made math intimidating. Learning multiplication
tables was more of a drill sergeant to squad, in that the teacher will approach
each child with his strap asking questions, failure to answer resulted in a
student receiving lashes. This experience made me developed a fear for mathematics.
Why do so many of them find it so easy to speak vividly about so many bad experiences they claim to have encountered within the realms of school mathematics?
Bad experiences often leave a lasting impression on the mind.
For many students, the bad experiences always seem to have outweighed the good that they have encountered in learning mathematics. Teachers have created an environment where student’s confidence has seemed bootless, for instance, constant pressure on a student from a teacher to learn mathematical operations or face punishment. This is often not experienced with other reading subjects, such as, Social Studies and English.
These questions are likely to challenge educators and teachers of mathematics to reflect on a more direct and fundamental question, Why have we performed so poorly at mathematizing the minds of our students?
This takes us back to the point that teachers did not possess sufficient knowledge and understanding to teach mathematics effectively. If teachers possessed this knowledge they would have been better able to strategize. For instance, allowing students to invent their own ways of adding and subtracting numbers rather than telling them how. If pupils can play a board game with one die, simply introduce a second die and let them figure out what to do. Some teachers rely heavily on the traditional method of teaching, “chalk and talk” in that they show children what to do as opposed to allowing them to explore other methods of solving a problem. As a result, children do not understand what they are doing so learning is not meaningful.
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