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Re: [Phys-L] Legitimate Phys-L topics.

Here is an example of what can happen in elementary math. There is a very good math curriculum that has a didactic part and an engagement part, the latter being math games that help students better understand and experience the math they are learning. To often teachers see the latter as fluff and only do the former, and the students don't learn.

joe

Joseph J. Bellina, Jr. Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of Physics
Co-Director, Northern Indiana Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Collaborative
574-276-8294
inquirybellina@comcast.net




On Jan 6, 2014, at 12:22 PM, Richard Tarara wrote:

Long before the age of high stake testing (and I don't really know what that has done to math education) the apparent problem was that many, many math teachers from elementary through College, short changed the applications of the math to the 'real world'. Despite copious inclusions in math texts, the dreaded 'word problems' would often be ignored for more drill sheets of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. [OK, before JD chimes in, such word problems usually don't offer true 'real world' examples, though in math they can be closer than the usual physics problems seen in texts.]

I suspect things haven't gotten much better (I don't see it better by the time they get to College). Seems to me those word problems might actually require some '(critical) THINKING"?

rwt

On 1/6/2014 11:53 AM, Marty Weiss wrote:
"The math... the math... the math..." Oh... My...God......Yes. A resounding YES! That's all I hear, every day. "I HATE MATH. I CAN'T DO MATH."

It has to go back to several factors... the lack of certified math teachers in elementary school + parents who transmit that attitude to their children + the general anti-academic attitude in this country in general + (and this is very controversial...) the way math is taught nowadays to prepare for high stakes testing turns them off from an early age. (Yes, I know I will raise a few 'hackles' with that statement and the previous one)

What say you all?



--
Richard Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College

free Physics educational software
www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/software.html

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