Questions tagged [psychology]
For questions about psychological background of mathematical education.
13
questions
12
votes
7answers
4k views
A smart student that struggles in exams
I am tutoring a grade 8 student that failed his math exam, but surprisingly it seems that he is more than smart enough: he understands everything I say really quickly, and he knows most of the ideas ...
39
votes
22answers
9k views
Response to Students Who Say "This Is Not Important"
Lately, my students keep telling me why what we are learning is not important. They ask me when will we use this in the real world?
I explain how math is important in gambling, cooking, finance, ...
4
votes
3answers
143 views
self-reliance and psychology in learning math
It's hard to be more descriptive with the title without making it excessively long.
What I'm wondering is this: what is the "right attitude" or "right psychology" when confronted with a mathematical ...
4
votes
1answer
171 views
Erasing students' work - etiquette/guidelines?
What are some guidelines on erasing students' work such as on a chalkboard/whiteboard in a classroom or on paper in a private tutorial class?
Usually this is for the parts of maths that involves ...
12
votes
3answers
719 views
Summary of the mechanism of reification
The concept of "reification" in mathematics education is interesting. Roughly, if I understand this correctly, one "reifies" processes into mathematical objects. Very recently, it occurred to me that ...
7
votes
1answer
416 views
Polya's "Nearby Problem" Heuristic and Inquiry Based Learning
I've often wondered about the "devise a plan" part of Polya's "How to solve it" outline. What we call "problem solving" can be thought of as what to do when you have no idea what to do. From this ...
25
votes
2answers
1k views
What methods successfully identify and eliminate severe math anxiety?
What methods are effective in identifying and eliminating severe math anxiety, this most terrible and unfortunate part of modern mathematics education? This question is not about ordinary math anxiety ...
15
votes
3answers
450 views
Calculation versus writing in mathematics
Writing mathematics is an important activity of the mathematician. In trying to write one's mathematics, one finds ways to balance intuition and rigor and to efficiently communicate concepts and ideas ...
5
votes
1answer
352 views
Learning vs. Development in Practice as a Math Educator
As a math educator, do you distinguish between the concepts of "learning" and "development?"
If so, what is the distinction for you?
What would you say the consequences of this distinction are to ...
7
votes
3answers
377 views
Can music improve math abilities?
This question is inspired by a set of questions at the end of Timothy Gowers' book:
Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2002.
The possible relation between mathematics ...
10
votes
5answers
2k views
Advantages on repeating question in student's answer
I see a lot of students who repeat the whole question (i.e., before starting with anything which has some content, they write down all assumptions, claims, etc.) in their answers in homework or exams. ...
39
votes
2answers
2k views
What does math education research know about difficulty vs. effectiveness?
I've asked basically the same question previously on on math.SE, then
cogsci.SE without much response, surely here is the place to ask this.
As anecdotal evidence is plentiful, but unfortunately ...
14
votes
3answers
224 views
Is there an evidence that learning mathematics influences our characters?
I am teaching mathematics for elementary school (even playgroup) to university students. Most of my students think of mathematics might not be necessary for them.
I have an hypothesis that learning ...
