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I'm sure this isn't the same thing, but my big turn-off with Algebra I when I was in high school was that the teachers didn't explain what I was supposed to do with the "X," and it looked like a multiplication sign. I know it seems really silly now, but that's one of the reasons I didn't do well when I first started learning it. Another reason, though, was the order of operations and the nature of the problems themselves. I don't focus well enough to do certain repetitive tasks accurately, so math is torture just because I goof up on little steps, divide instead of multiply, subtract instead of add, look over signs, etc.
I'm okay at math if it's framed like a story, where you start with the word problems and real-world application first and then work backwards to the operations. This way, it's framed more like a language. Unfortunately, I can't find any program that consistently does this. If you know of anything that teaches advanced math using stories and real-world application, please let me know. This is really my only hang-up when trying to learn it on my own. In school, high school and college, though, I found it difficult because of the pace at which it was taught, too.
See, the way my brain works, numbers are meaningless until they can be applied to real life. You can say things like, "x + 6 = 12 all day, but it would do me better if you said something like, "A certain number of apples are in a bag. Someone adds six more apples to the bag for a total of twelve apples. How many apples were in the bag to begin with?" Then, represent it with a picture. Now, you can show me the steps to working out the problem. This should work very well for more advanced math, like Geometry, Algebra II, and Trigonometry, because you can give me examples with real-world problems. I think this may be one reason boys do better in math than girls do.
Young men are exposed to a lot of real-world math and are taught the operations to figure it out, like guys learn Algebra through problem-solving when helping mix the oil to help do the lawn or work on the car and learn Geometry and Trig when helping their dads with building projects, while girls do not do a lot of math-intensive work. We may use basic Algebra when converting recipes and maybe a little Geometry if we were taught to sew, but that's about it. We women are short-changed on arithmetic, because we've never gotten to work with most advanced math outside of the abstract. It's silly to think that anyone could ever become proficient in a language whose meaning he or she does not know, but that's the way most people teach us math. By learning operations and formulas without grasping what they mean, you will have only memorized a bunch of letters, symbols, and meaningless operations. At least, that's the way I see it.
A lot of good teachers aren't good at math. A lot of people who are good at math aren't good at teaching. Schools need math teachers who have both a talent for teaching and a talent for math. People like Jaime Escalante. But the people who hire teachers don't usually have a talent for hiring the right teachers. If Jaime Escalante and 19 random other candidates had applied for a math teaching job when he was unknown, his probability of getting the job would have been about 1/20.
The problem is cultural. American education doesn't emphasize abstract learning or memorization. At its initial rudiments, math is memorization. Very soon thereafter it becomes abstract reasoning. American culture disavows memorization as some crude disciplinary tool of petty tyrannies, but also rejects abstract reasoning as being irrelevant and lacking the wholesome merit of proper applications.
My own math-trajectory was essentially the opposite of that of most posters here. In high school I excelled in math, taking the most advanced classes and doing well on the math-team, eventually reaching national-level competition. In college I did tolerably well, but slowed down. In grad school, my math exploits were resoundingly thwarted, and I gave up trying to become a professional mathematician. Now in my professional life as an engineer, math is only an occasional tool, and I'm deeply embarrassed that with few exceptions, the mathematical tools at my disposal don't penetrate beyond what was already available in the late 19th century. What helped me was immersion in a subculture where math was venerated as the most epistemically profound branch of human endeavor. The best use of one's brain is mathematical use. I was raised with an almost religious devotion to math. My natural ability was OK, but not outstanding, and eventually aspiration came to outstrip ability.
The lesson here is that culture matters. American teaching-methods or the training of teachers or the design of homework-assignments might benefit from reform, but the real reform is cultural reform.
Math is basically the study of patterns, which everyone does, innately.
Geometry is a study of patterns. Algebra uses more logic. Algebra and geometry use different sides of the brain. People who are good at art and visual perception usually have an easier time in geometry.
I liked math but a lot of teachers could either make it boring or not connect it to reality.
Some behaved as though we were supposed to learn it to prove to the teacher that we were smart. No discussion of what we could do with it in future careers.
They should just teach physics and show how the math is used in the physics. LOL
I don't think math is something that requires innate ability beyond curiosity... it is taught, practiced, honed and confidence is built over time. Like learning to play an instrument.
Parents don't place enough emphasis on math skills at a young age. People should be taught early in life to enjoy math and not be afraid of it, if a 9th grader walks into Geometry for the first time scared of it, they will probably struggle.
I liked math but a lot of teachers could either make it boring or not connect it to reality.
Some behaved as though we were supposed to learn it to prove to the teacher that we were smart. No discussion of what we could do with it in future careers.
They should just teach physics and show how the math is used in the physics. LOL
psik
I think this is what smart parents are doing when the child comes home, showing how math is applied in everyday life.
Some of us learn out of necessity to live, for example:
At a young age I was given a calculator and told to add fruits and vegetables for customers at my parents farmers market. It seems like a simple task now, but making those simple calculations gave me understanding of how math is used before I ever got to a single class.
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I know it seems really silly now, but that's one of the reasons I didn't do well when I first started learning it. Another reason, though, was the order of operations and the nature of the problems themselves. I don't focus well enough to do certain repetitive tasks accurately, so math is torture just because I goof up on little steps, divide instead of multiply, subtract instead of add, look over signs, etc.
