Comments on: Speaking of math…

By: diane vespa

diane vespa — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:42:30 +0000

I absolutely DREAD the first time one of my kids asks me to help them solve a math problem. I guess that is when I will have to come clean with them that I NEVER paid attention in school. My pat answer will be “wait until Daddy gets home….”.

By: HollowSquirrel

HollowSquirrel — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:33:33 +0000

Let’s hope the bears go for the squirrels before they go for you, the hikers. You’re totally right, though…how can he correctly answer these questions when they’re so flawed?

By: Jimi

Jimi — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 04:32:02 +0000

Just run from the bears. Zig zag. They can catch you if they want, but usually you’re too much an effort to catch.

By: Rixblix

Rixblix — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 02:42:06 +0000

Actually, as a teacher, I can tell you that there are reasons why math is taught the way it is. Current standardized testing requires that students demonstrate the “why” of their answer. This is called metacognition. Students can’t simply be taught rote memorization and formulas because the testing that they MUST undergo requires that they learn WHY long division works or WHY counting back change works the way it does. Just as teaching reading has gone through countless “fads” (phonics, whole language, etc…) so too is Math. In reality, it’s pretty tough to teach a “Math LD” kid how to embrace it and look ahead to it’s applications in modern life.

I may be a bit biased, though, because I’m one of those Math LD grown up kids. I can count back change (because I worked at the Dairy Ripple one summer) but I rely on a calculator quite a bit.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:19:11 +0000

All practical math is a story problem in life. Where the education system has messed up is in trying to make it an entertaining story problem. So when the kids have a real problem to solve (that probably isn’t entertaining) it suddenly becomes “math” to them and they decide they can’t do it. Teaching real math is dry as toast … but when it comes time to balance the checkbook the student knows how if he /she were taught how math works to balance a checkbook instead of how many apples are left in the basket or how much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood.

By: mortonmalaise

mortonmalaise — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:36:01 +0000

*Cough*DORK*Cough*

By: jenjw4

jenjw4 — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:21:27 +0000

I was a math major, long ago, so I think I had an extra dose of most of the math my son is doing in 8th grade. I think by the time he reaches sophmore year of high school I’ll be totally lost…

Katie-yep, praying to Pythagoras!

Michael, I’m a little crazy and actually like story problems! The bears walking on a line though, that seems a bit much! (When I’m driving I make up little story problems to do in my head, “I have 24 miles left to drive, if I drive the first 12 at 55 mph, and the last 12 at 40, what time will I get home?)

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:05:49 +0000

It’s not a “real life application” but a form of entertainment. Some years back it was decided kids might be more interested in learning if it were entertaining. This attitude has slowly evolved into modern teaching methods that include a lot of entertainment in the guise of education. Playing dress up, making posters and models, etc. Math just isn’t an easy subject to make entertaining. My generation got the old train question in one form or another with points A, B, and C. Not than any of us would have to worry about when our trains would crash together … because the train system in our area went out of business. Probably from fuzzy math.

By: katearch1978

katearch1978 — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:32:10 +0000

Wow…Math left you resorting to praying…:)

By: mortonmalaise

mortonmalaise — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:41:35 +0000

Y=0 and X=7, right? There’s no way I would’ve remembered how to do that without the reminder. I would’ve been drawing graphs and figuring out slope and Googling the quadratic formula.