WE NEED A MATH OVERHAUL !

FEWER ANSWER GETTING TECHNIQUES

&

MORE PATIENT PROBLEM SOLVERS BY MARY ALLEN AND APRIL RAMIREZ

BASED ON VIDEOS BY DAN MEYER

AND PHIL DARO

STUDENTS STRUGGLE WITH MATH BECAUSE THEY TRY TO MAKE SENSE OF WHAT THEY ARE DOING… WHAT DO ALL THOSE FORMULAS MEAN???

WHY DO STUDENTS STRUGGLE WITH MATH?

IS IT OUR FAULT?

• WHAT ARE WE TEACHING IN THE CLASSROOM?? WHAT IS IN OUR TEXTBOOKS??

ANSWER GETTING TECHNIQUES

• WHAT AREN’T WE TEACHING?

A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF MATH

WHY WE ARE DOING IT WRONG!

STUDENTS

• LACK INITIATIVE

• LACK PERSEVERANCE

• LACK RETENTION

• HAVE AN AVERSION TO WORD PROBLEMS – 99%

• HAVE AN EAGERNESS FOR FORMULA- OTHER 1% DAN MEYER

WHY WE ARE DOING IT WRONG?• “WE GIVE PROBLEMS TO STUDENTS BUT DON’T INVOLVE THEM IN

THE FORMULATION OF THE PROBLEM”…. DAN MEYER

“THE FORMULATION OF THE PROBLEM IS OFTEN

MORE ESSENTIAL THAN ITS SOLUTION, WHICH MAY

BE MERELY A MATTER OF MATHEMATICAL OR

EXPERIMENTAL SKILL.” ~ ALBERT EINSTEIN

CHANGE OUR WAY OF THINKING“MATH ANSWERS ARE PART OF PROCESS NOT THE PRODUCT. THE PRODUCT = STUDENT’S MATH KNOWLEDGE AND KNOW HOW!” Phil Daro

WHAT IS THE MATH THEY NEED TO KNOW AND HOW WILL I USE THIS PROBLEM TO TEACH THAT MATH?

SOLUTIONS

• USE MULTIMEDIA: BRING REAL WORLD INTO THE CLASSROOM

• ENCOURAGE STUDENT INTUITION: LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD

• ASK SHORTEST QUESTIONS YOU CAN: MORE IMPORTANT

QUESTIONS WILL COME WITH CONVERSATIONS

• LET STUDENT BUILD PROBLEM

• BE LESS HELPFUL: GIVE THEM TIME TO THINK IT OUT …. DAN MEYER

SOLUTIONS

• WE NEED MORE PATIENT PROBLEM SOLVING: STUDENTS NEED TO

UNDERSTAND THAT THE PROCESS IS AS IMPORTANT AS THE ANSWER.

• “STUDENTS NEED TO DECIDE, ‘ALL RIGHT, WELL, DOES THE HEIGHT MATTER? DOES

THE SIDE OF IT MATTER? DOES THE COLOR OF THE VALVE MATTER? WHAT MATTERS

HERE?’ — SUCH AN UNDERREPRESENTED QUESTION IN MATH CURRICULUM.” DAN MEYER

THE FUTURE

TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS NEED TO CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE STUDENTS LEARN HOW TO THINK NOT JUST GENERATE ANSWERS.

WE CAN’T EXPECT STUDENTS TO CHANGE UNTIL WE CHANGE OURSELVES AND OUR PROGRAMS

FOR OUR STUDENTS TO SUCCEED WE NEED TO PREPARE THEM TO BE REAL WORLD PROBLEM SOLVERS.

MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE WE NEED TO BELIEVE THAT OUR STUDENTS ARE CAPABLE OF THIS TYPE OF THINKING