I strongly believe that its the primary school maths teacher who moulds or destroys a child's mathematical instincts and I have been very lucky . Math is probably the only subject which requires reasoning and logic in the primary school. ( Science is also there...). But when certain concepts are taught at a really young age the kid loses out on the reasoning and ends up mugging it as a fact me give examples
- My two and a half year old cousin was taught to draw figures.. You can ask her to draw a circle or a square or a rectangle ...And she draws it for you. These are abstract figures and they don mean any thing to a little child. Probably some of them may be able to understand and reason out. But not all are genius and each of us have a different learning and understanding power.Technically we should not be ashamed of it.God made us that way .
- subtraction and borrowing. When I was in primary school , I never understood why borrowing was done. I had learnt it as a rule. Subtract one from the next digit and add 10 to the current digit.
- Similar funds in division.
Our system requires that we learn all the tricks fast. Learning negative numbers in 5th standard .Ha.Instead stress should be given on basic maths. Basic logic . And correlation to real world problems and situations. I am sure word problems in primary schools interested you more than boring subtract 5558 from 9986.
Maths text books. I never read a "Maths text book " during my entire schooling. Teachers taught how to do sums in class and we did the exercises at home. I havent browsed through the pages before the exercises even once. Sums . Sums. Sums. As if sums = maths. What a big misconception . Now I know. Maths books are supposed to be a pleasure to read. The "Why" factor is lost amidst "How" and a google sums.
And the biggest blunder is calling the so called "slow learners " for special classes and sending them to special tution. If a kid cannot understand maths in school why will he be interested in it in tution classes after school hours. Instead specific standard can be set for each school.And the 'gifted and above average kids ' can be called for extra coaching where "logarithms" can be taught in 4th standard if needed.
What ever I have written here will more more sense to you if you look at it from first generation learners and uneducated parent's point of view.Challenge is no doubt a strong motivating factor.But the basic purpose of learning mathematics should not be lost in the name of challenge.
There is lots more to be written... Expect a part 2 soon.
5 comments:
I dont agree with al da points. U may not undertsnad a concept in class cos the teacher is isnt gud or cos too many stud in class. In special class u wil get individual attention.
Few other things also, but no mood to type em.
I second radha. a child who cannot grasp thngs faster may not get all the things while n class. u urself have mentioned that each of us have diff learning power ( forget even how gud the teacher is )and then u contradict that by saying nobody shd go to spl classes!!!! i am not a bright student, so i can see a point here.
2. if u openly segregate gifted students and arrange spl clases for higher learning ( logarithms as u've mentioned) , it can psycologically affect other students. dont block young minds !
instead if u leave the option to the students, the ones weaker or non interested may opt out themselves.
3. the point reg word problems and reasoning logic is well taken.
4. ur new display name sounds a tad better than ur original name ;)
The biggest problem in my opinion is something you have mentioned that our system requires that we learn all the tricks fast.
And challenging problems can be set using the most basic of fundaes. Learning more does not imply that its more of a challenge.
The points about borrowing and division are well taken. Mugging up tables also comes in the same category. Mugging up anything is never liked by anyone, probably the reason for many people disliking Bio, History, Civics, etc.
Nice thought provoking post.
hey nice post... tht borrwin thingy in sub in kg was nice thought... thts true...
Well, That was a very thoughtful post.
It is certainly depressing to see children point mathematics as their boring subject due to the type of teaching carried out.
I too never understood math till my 11th standard after which i developed an interest in it and this interest has helped me a lot to progress in my field of study.
Alex
Post a Comment