If math hurts your brain, try theselessons instead

Teacher David Hicks uses "dot talks" while teaching eighth-grade students math at San Francisco 49ers

Academy in East Palo Alto, California, Feb. 25, 2015. Hicks has students do "number talks" and "dot talk,"

employing oral and visual aids to help students overcome math anxiety. Photo: John Green/Bay Area News

Group/TNS

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Do you hate math? Relax — the problem may not be you. It

could just be the way math is taught.

Having trouble with math should not be seen as a personal failure or as the

result of a missing gene. Instead, it is likely the result of wrongheaded “one-size-

fits-all” ways of teaching. So, at least, runs the theory behind a new approach to

math education that is exciting teachers nationwide.

More and more math instructors are embracing ideas developed by Stanford

professors Carol Dweck and Jo Boaler. Their approach includes more visual and

creative exercises. It favors discussions of ideas over a focus on memorization

and speed. In place of the one-size-fits-all approach, it offers individually

tailored lessons.

By San Jose Mercury News, adapted by Newsela staff on 03.30.15

Word Count 896

Math Is About Hard Work And Practice

David Foster of the Silicon Valley Mathematics Initiative said that for many

people math class was a bad experience. He says if that if you tell people you

teach math, they all “launch into a horror story about high school math. The only

mystery is if they blame the algebra teacher or the geometry teacher” for their

hatred of math.

Foster believes a more positive approach to math instruction is the way to get

kids to love learning.

“Learning to do math is no different from learning to play the piano or learning to

play a sport," he said. "A lot of it is about hard work and practice,” rather than a

natural ability that only some have.

His thinking is rooted in the ideas of Dweck and Boaler, whose approaches to

teaching math are spreading quickly. Dweck argues that math education should

focus on helping students persevere even if they do not succeed at first. She

says failure helps students to learn, grow and get better.

But It Hurts My Brain

Boaler offered a free online math course last summer that attracted 85,000

people. Her approach involves less memorization — instead, lessons focus on

different ways to solve problems and on the uses of math in everyday life.

Lessons are tailored to individual levels and feature small-group discussion.

“We’re in a crisis in math,” Boaler said. “These poor kids are given the idea that

math is about performance, and then they get the idea that they can’t do it.”

As sixth-grader Sahib Dokal put it: “It feels like you have to do it faster and I

can’t think that hard.”

Teachers say that bad classroom experiences with math have led to math

failure. Just 36 percent of U.S. eighth-graders score at their grade level on

national math tests.

Mixed-Level Classwork Seems To Work

To underline the importance of effort, the Khan Academy — an educational

organization that provides free education through YouTube video lectures — has

launched a math contest that recognizes not just mastery, but effort as well. It

posts weekly scores online and so far has attracted 41,000 students from the

San Francisco Bay Area.

“I thought I would bring a little more excitement to my students,” said David

Hicks of San Francisco 49ers Academy in East Palo Alto. His school was in first

place in effort after the contest’s first week last month.

The contest tallies student progress in mastering Khan Academy lessons. A

computer program analyzes each student’s work and tailors lessons to their

level. Thus, Hicks said, in his mixed-level class, “my algebra students don’t

have to wait for my students who are at a third-grade ability.” Khan’s

“dashboard” shows each student’s progress, level and effort.

“When I complete it, it makes me feel smart,” 49ers eighth-grader Fernando

Ibarra said.

Math Making Sense

Online tools do not work for everyone, however. Ana Wallace, a senior at Summit

Rainier in San Jose, finds Khan’s video lessons confusing. “You can’t ask Khan

questions,” she said, and the daily 30 minutes on Algebra II just get her more

confused.

There are other approaches, such as talking through a math problem step by

step. At the 49ers Academy, Hicks will often pose a puzzle-like question, then

illustrate on the whiteboard students’ step-by-step thinking as they solve the

problem.

However, much of what makes math more understandable comes down to just

good teaching: keeping track of each student and not leaving anyone confused.

Michelle Rojas, 12, said she hated math in elementary school. When she asked

a question, teachers “explained it in their own college way, instead of for the

grade level you were in,” she said. Now a sixth-grader at Alpha Blanca Alvarado

Middle School in San Jose, she is understanding lessons better.

Teachers and students say that relating math to everyday problem-solving and

daily life is also important.

“The more you can connect the math to their life,” the better, said math teacher

Mona Keeler. It makes it meaningful and "takes off that pressure."

"We Can Have Kids Loving Math"

What is the evidence that these new ways work? For one thing, there are plenty

of stories from teachers themselves.

“I’ve seen humongous growth” in math achievement, Keeler said.

So can everyone learn trigonometry and calculus with the right kind of teaching?

“Most of humanity is capable,” Khan Academy founder Salman Khan said firmly.

What about those with a math-learning disability?

“It’s hard to know who’s born with a math disability, or who becomes disabled

because of the way they’ve been treated in math,” Boaler said. “I know we can

transform it. We can have kids loving math.”

Quiz

1 Which paragraph from the section "Math Is About Hard Work And Practice" BEST

supports the idea that all students have the capability to do math?

2 Which two sentences from the section "Math Making Sense" BEST support the idea

that the way that math is taught is important?

(A) “You can’t ask Khan questions,” she said, and the daily 30 minutes

on Algebra II just get her more confused. There are other

approaches, such as talking through a math problem step by step.

(B) However, much of what makes math more understandable comes

down to just good teaching: keeping track of each student and not

leaving anyone confused. “The more you can connect the math to

their life,” the better, said math teacher Mona Keeler.

(C) However, much of what makes math more understandable comes

down to just good teaching: keeping track of each student and not

leaving anyone confused. Michelle Rojas, 12, said she hated math

in elementary school.

(D) Ana Wallace, a senior at Summit Rainier in San Jose, finds Khan’s

video lessons confusing. Now a sixth-grader at Alpha Blanca

Alvarado Middle School in San Jose, she is understanding lessons

better.

3 In the section "Math Is About Hard Work And Practice," which answer option BEST

describes how David Foster has been influenced by Carol Dweck and Jo Boaler?

(A) David Foster has learned from Dweck and Boaler that students

should refrain from doing work that is difficult for them.

(B) David Foster has learned from working with Dweck and Boaler that

people do not like math teachers.

(C) David Foster teaches math by focusing on memorization just like

Dweck and Boaler do.

(D) David Foster teaches math using the methods developed by

Dweck and Boaler.

4 Based on the article, which factor MOST influenced Dweck and Boaler to develop

new methods of teaching math?

(A) They wanted to do something creative with math.

(B) They wanted to make math exciting for teachers.

(C) They wanted students to like math.

(D) They wanted students to solve problems more quickly.

Answer Key

1 Which paragraph from the section "Math Is About Hard Work And Practice" BEST

supports the idea that all students have the capability to do math?

Paragraph 5:

“Learning to do math is no different from learning to play the piano or

learning to play a sport," he said. "A lot of it is about hard work and

practice,” rather than a natural ability that only some have.

2 Which two sentences from the section "Math Making Sense" BEST support the idea

that the way that math is taught is important?

(A) “You can’t ask Khan questions,” she said, and the daily 30 minutes

on Algebra II just get her more confused. There are other

approaches, such as talking through a math problem step by step.

(B) However, much of what makes math more understandable

comes down to just good teaching: keeping track of each

student and not leaving anyone confused. “The more you can

connect the math to their life,” the better, said math teacher

Mona Keeler.

(C) However, much of what makes math more understandable comes

down to just good teaching: keeping track of each student and not

leaving anyone confused. Michelle Rojas, 12, said she hated math

in elementary school.

(D) Ana Wallace, a senior at Summit Rainier in San Jose, finds Khan’s

video lessons confusing. Now a sixth-grader at Alpha Blanca

Alvarado Middle School in San Jose, she is understanding lessons

better.

3 In the section "Math Is About Hard Work And Practice," which answer option BEST

describes how David Foster has been influenced by Carol Dweck and Jo Boaler?

(A) David Foster has learned from Dweck and Boaler that students

should refrain from doing work that is difficult for them.

(B) David Foster has learned from working with Dweck and Boaler that

people do not like math teachers.

(C) David Foster teaches math by focusing on memorization just like

Dweck and Boaler do.

(D) David Foster teaches math using the methods developed by

Dweck and Boaler.

4 Based on the article, which factor MOST influenced Dweck and Boaler to develop

new methods of teaching math?

(A) They wanted to do something creative with math.

(B) They wanted to make math exciting for teachers.

(C) They wanted students to like math.

(D) They wanted students to solve problems more quickly.