What Percentage of Your School’s Students Dislike Mathematics?
Richard Andrew
? Creating Change Through Awareness-raising, Interactive, Hybrid Experiences ? School Collaborations: Whole-school, Implementations-based CPD ? Corporate: Empowering Coaches & Consultants ? Bus Networking Facilitator
Paul Swan from Edith Cowan University, in his article?I Hate Maths, cites the work of Wain, who paints a very dark picture of the image of mathematics:
…?many intelligent people, after an average of 1500 hours of instruction over eleven years of schooling, still regard mathematics as a meaningless activity for which they have no aptitude...it is difficult to imagine how a subject could have achieved for itself such an appalling image as it now has in the popular mind ... to think that all our effort has led to a situation of fear and loathing is depressing.?(Wain 1994 as cited by Westwood, 2000, p. 31)
Think about that for a moment! 1500 hours of maths instruction, leading many intelligent people to a poor attitude towards mathematics.
What other industry would tolerate such a poor return for effort??Imagine Nike undertaking 1500 hours of advertising, and all the while, the ads are turning most people off Nike!
BTW, this is not an attack on mathematics teachers, most of whom are hard-working professionals doing their best. However, something is awry!
The Wain quote above references that many people consider ‘for which they have no aptitude’. What portion of people do we suspect the ‘many’ to be? Twenty per cent?
Let me take a wild guess here …?seventy-ish per cent!
Now, before you spill that coffee down your front, allow me to explain how I derive this seventy per cent number.
I’ve been running The Unintentional Mathematics Attitude Survey for over forty years. Whether we like it or not, every maths teacher is involved with The Unintentional Mathematics Attitude Survey.?
The Unintentional Mathematics Attitude Survey operates in any social situation somewhat like this:
Not everyone says they hated maths, were hopeless at mathematics or sucked at maths. However, about seventy per cent do. And the other thirty per cent are just as enthusiastic about telling us they loved maths at school.?
Nevertheless, those seventy per cent who suffered at school don’t hold back their displeasure of school maths.
Now, I’m an Australian. The situation is likely slightly different in some countries, such as Singapore, China, and Finland. But I think my 70% figure holds up in many major countries.
Swan closes the I Hate Maths article by citing the Australian Education Council, which recognised - over a decade ago - the link between students’ engagement with maths and those who pursue maths in the long term. The Australian Education Council recommends that mathematics curricula explicitly address students' development of positive attitudes towards mathematics.
Why this hasn’t been obvious for the last hundred years is, I find, incredulous. And why?authentic engagement?in today’s maths education is awarded mere lip service rather than being a major thrust is also, in my view, a tragedy.
领英推荐
The Way Mathematics is Taught
Swan cites Skemp (1986) (who suggested that)?the way in which mathematics is taught contributed to the development of anxiety toward mathematics. He suggested that rote learning of mathematics caused children to develop anxiety toward mathematics. Children are often successful in learning simple mathematics based on rote learning, but as mathematics becomes more complex, they can no longer just learn rules to cover all situations. As they become exposed to problem-solving situations, children can no longer apply rote-learnt methods. This helps to explain why many children start off enjoying mathematics but, as they get older, turn off mathematics.?
That rote-learning is an ineffective way of teaching mathematics is, in my experience, obviously true. Yet I have reason to suspect that most maths teaching today has a foundation of rote learning, albeit with an attempt to explain conceptually what's happening.
One of the issues is that when we teach students a new procedure, we often do so without providing students with an understanding of the concepts upon which the procedure is based. In other words, we are trying to get students to learn something in the absence of conceptual understanding. And when was the last time you tried to learn something you couldn't make sense of? It's an almost impossible task!
Arguably, rote learning is at play anytime we ask students to learn a routine or procedure without conceptual understanding. After all, the natural way learning works is to learn through understanding, through connecting the dots. If we don't understand - if we can't connect the dots - then our only option is to learn by rote.
Therefore, it makes sense to have students explore concepts before encountering the related procedure.
Why haven’t we changed?
I suspect every maths teacher has tried approaches alternative to that of procedurally-focused rote learning, approaches that are more conceptual, strategies that are more student-centred, and activities that make more sense to students. However, the pedagogy required to make such strategies work differs from the pedagogies needed for a traditional, procedural approach. When a teacher tries an alternative task, they may be inspired to use such a task on, for example, a monthly basis. But rarely do teachers' experiences of these alternative approaches give them the confidence to adopt them as a default. They appear too messy and time-consuming. So nearly always, the procedural status quo remains.
Give me a road map!
In my experience, teachers need to see the need for change to change. But then they need a roadmap! There are ways to present mathematics with students engaging in explorations, understanding the concepts, and taking ownership of their learning. However, teachers first need to understand WHY these strategies are effective. Then they need to see the HOW ... they need a roadmap.
In my work with teachers, I encourage using strategies that have students using their own thinking as they explore concepts before presenting them with the related procedures. I refer to this as an Understanding-first, Procedures-second approach. The transition required to adopt this approach is laid out for them.
Paul Swan’s ‘I Hate Mathematics’ article also suggests some engaging ideas for the maths classroom.
Someone famously suggested changing what you are doing if you want different results.
Maybe we should start employing - as the default - efficient strategies that require students to ‘do maths’ - to explore, to investigate, to collaborate, to tackle problems through using their own thinking, so that - first up - students get to understand the concepts.
Maybe.
Your turn ...
What were your takeaways? So share ...
Creating Schools Where Students and Teachers Want To Be
2 年What percentage of your school's students dislike school!?
Founder | CEO | Teacher | EdTech Specialist | Learner | Lover of Mathematics
2 年A great read. Thanks Richard Andrew! I reckon your anecdotal findings are in the ball park. Whenever I have a new class, the prevailing attitudes usually fall into one of the following buckets: - "I'm not a maths person" - "Maths is irrelevant or boring - "I can do it, but I don't know why" I love your point around rote learning. This leads to an attitude often in that last bucket. As u allude to, rote learning leads to a lack of understanding which leads to a lack of retention. Worse still is that a failure to understand something conceptually means we cannot take this knowledge and apply it to new and unfamiliar situations (surely a purpose of maths). Moreover, the worst travesty of all in learning maths by rote, is the fact that we are robbing students of the joy/magic/thrill that comes from a deep conceptual understanding... they also skip the curiosity driven learning journey which takes them there.
Helping C-suite leaders to deliver complex organizational projects. Transforming Leaders, Cultures and Performance
2 年Great read you got there, Richard. Every mathematical issue has a solution, and there are several methods for finding that answer. Teachers and parents should work together to improve their students' comprehension of the ideas and methods in arithmetic.
I Help Business Owners & Executives Flourish in Business and Living!
2 年Great article Richard. While reading, I remembered how Math was taught and introduced back in the day and I have to say that you are right.
Solving your people challenges.? REACH LX Partner ? Training, Consulting, Coaching and Facilitation ? Speaker ? MC #amandashereforyou
2 年Great article, Richard! Many people don't seem to get how essential mathematics is to our daily lives. I hope a lot of people read this article so they will be motivated and see the importance of mathematics.