45
votes
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?"
There's a quick reply to this that I think people won't ...
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38
votes
Response to Students Who Say "This Is Not Important"
Math is just as useless as almost any other subject
As a math tutor, I've thought about this a lot over the last 15 years or so. Aside from tutoring, I don't use my math education in "the real ...
- 576
27
votes
What methods successfully identify and eliminate severe math anxiety?
In regards to "math anxiety", the 1990 paper by Ray Hembree helped me out a lot. It's a large meta-study of about 150 papers and a total of 25,000 students. Summary of the results, as I wrote on my ...
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25
votes
Accepted
A smart student that struggles in exams
There are several possible explanations. Without much more information, it is impossible to give a clear-cut answer.
Perhaps your student is able to "read" your unconcisious reactions very ...
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18
votes
Response to Students Who Say "This Is Not Important"
I've never had success with giving a list of applications to such students - because, realistically, we don't use most of the math we teach. For example, I teach early equations in one of my classes, ...
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15
votes
Response to Students Who Say "This Is Not Important"
The American Mathematical Society provides posters promoting awareness of mathematics, its beauty, and applications. Here's a quote from the AMS Posters website:
"Students frequently ask when ...
- 10.8k
11
votes
Response to Students Who Say "This Is Not Important"
Trigger warning: math enthusiasts do not like this answer.
They ask me when will we use this in the real world?
When students ask when they will use something in "real life", they are ...
- 1,242
9
votes
A smart student that struggles in exams
I had a similar student, these 2 things helped.
Take mock tests with different criteria, like a test where questions are easy but paper is too lengthy to complete in time or sometimes very few ...
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9
votes
A smart student that struggles in exams
I was this student throughout school and University. Professors would comment that I was smart, that I knew the material, but I'd still do poorly on exams. I made careless mistakes: I would sometimes ...
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8
votes
A smart student that struggles in exams
When he solves some exercises beside me he does very well, so I was thinking why he failed the exam, and I couldn't find a reason. Also when I give him some homework he do some parts wrong, but when I ...
8
votes
Do we need to practice equation derivation while learning math if equations will be chunked and automatized?
I endorse Steve's comment about different skills and different levels of proficiency in different skills.
Also, if one at one time justified the Pythagorean theorem, but is no longer able to do so, I ...
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7
votes
Response to Students Who Say "This Is Not Important"
(not complete)
You should have mentioned which were some of the topics where your student's noise pollution rates increased drastically. We could have been able to tailor our responses specific to ...
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7
votes
Summary of the mechanism of reification
I think that you might find useful Harel & Kaput's chapter in Tall's Advanced Mathematical Thinking (1991). You can find it for free download at http://www.math.ucsd.edu/~harel/publications/...
6
votes
Response to Students Who Say "This Is Not Important"
You do math to get better at logical thinking, not to get better at math.
Similar to how world-class athletes train in the gym by doing many exercises that you'd never see them stop and do mid-match, ...
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6
votes
What methods successfully identify and eliminate severe math anxiety?
A while back I posted the related question How can we help students who are very anxious about math?, so that I could offer up a few answers of my own.
My suggestions include a few good books:
My ...
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5
votes
self-reliance and psychology in learning math
I don't think telling people how they should feel is generally helpful.
I am sure that there are lots of people who are "successful" mathematicians who have all kinds of different emotional ...
- 24.4k
5
votes
Calculation versus writing in mathematics
Another thought occurred to me regarding this, after having read Reuben Hersh's collection of essays. There is a quote of Bill Thurston, which I paraphrase as "thinking is the same as seeing". In a ...
- 6,133
4
votes
Polya's "Nearby Problem" Heuristic and Inquiry Based Learning
(This answer has two parts: The first one is about existing research, and probably relevant, but succinct; the second one is about a problem solved in practice, and possibly relevant, but definitely ...
- 18.4k
4
votes
Summary of the mechanism of reification
The literature lacks a clear mechanism, that is why theories on the process-object-duality are criticized sometimes. Anna Sfard's reification, Dubinsky's APOS and Tall's procept may help describing ...
- 4,781
4
votes
Summary of the mechanism of reification
Not a high-quality answer, since I can only refer to some decades' observation, rather than systematic/deliberate study of the phenomenon:
Having observed maybe 1,000 pretty-darn-good grad students, ...
- 14.2k
4
votes
Response to Students Who Say "This Is Not Important"
W.G.,
I think you have to engage based on the situation. If it is someone wanting an argument, or to disrupt the class, you can engage a little, but at a certain (quick) point, need to move on and ...
- 57
4
votes
A smart student that struggles in exams
•Have him create a short 10-question exam for you and/or for some younger students. (just to give him different perspective - from that of the test maker) Explain why some missed some questions and ...
- 41
4
votes
A smart student that struggles in exams
Khan Academy has great problems for drill. I have often used it for careless students. Advantages are:
there are no clues from you
if it's wrong the computer will say so and he doesn't get credit ...
- 7,999
3
votes
Response to Students Who Say "This Is Not Important"
A simple answer would be: "You will date more than one person in your life but you won't know in advance who is the one, unless you give them all a substantial try. If you never do that you'll ...
3
votes
Response to Students Who Say "This Is Not Important"
Would it not be interesting to ask students who voice such opinions to substantiate their answers with examples of situations where one would think that mathematics would be of importance but is not?
...
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3
votes
Response to Students Who Say "This Is Not Important"
My kids have asked me this and i just responded "You are wrong. History, geography and most subjects i learnt at school were pretty much useless to me, and i have forgotten most of it, but maths ...
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3
votes
Response to Students Who Say "This Is Not Important"
Because the sum of all the subjects helps to make for a well rounded education. This keeps all opportunities in life open to you.
The math learned by sophomore year of high school may actually be ...
3
votes
A smart student that struggles in exams
That same thing happened to me when I was in school. Even in University it still happened to me. Even now as a programmer I still see the same pattern happening to me.
I was conscious of the problem,...
3
votes
Do we need to practice equation derivation while learning math if equations will be chunked and automatized?
This question goes to the core of what mathematics is about. Benjamin Pierce wrote, "Mathematics is the science which draws necessary conclusions". So, deriving equations (as it's phrased ...
- 24.4k
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