It was interesting to read the various negative views of mathematics. These are perspectives that I often hear from people and even see on media, tv shows, and movies. The media portrays mathematicians and scientists as "nerds" or "eggheads" as the article describes, with the typical glasses, a possible lab coat, and wacky hair. Even my parents and my peers have told me that most mathematicians are socially awkward and have trouble communicating with others in the real world. Looking into the real world and having a lot of friends in mathematics, we see that these portrayals of mathmaticians are not even close to being true. In fact, they discourage many young individuals from going into the field/study of mathematics. As a prospective teacher, I want to dismantle the streotypes of mathematics and make math fun and enjoyable for my future students.
On the other hand, it surpised me that even during the Cold War, the lack of individuals in college studying mathematics was a prevalent issue. This makes me think of why this is the case. How were mathematicians really portrayed back then? The fact that it was a worry and a concern by the United States shows the importance of having mathematicians and scientists in our society. That being said, it is important to continue to encourage gifted students in our educational systems to pursue such career paths amidst the stereotypes in our world today.
Lastly, it was interesting to read about thre NCTM standards. It was my first time hearing about them. I think that their values should be align with how mathematics is being taught in the classroom. As the article mentions, I think that it is important to instill in students an appreciation of the beauty of mathematics. In addition, mathematics should revolve around developing "flexible problem solving skills", not just tmemorizing formulas. However, I think that standardized testing, such as the SATs, ACTs, etc. goes against such standards. Standardized testing creates a more stressful environment for students and demoralizes them to do math. It destroys the fun in math and instead, makes it routine-like. With heavy time constraints, students who memorize short-cuts to solve problems often are the ones who perform better. Hence, it does not actually test one's ability to think, problem solve, and even derive formulas, but instead, one's ability to memorize.
Thanks for this thoughtful response, Nat! It's interesting that many young people might be put off math because of those 'nerdy' stereotypes. There is a great loss of intelligence, talent and enjoyment of mathematics for reasons that are really unrealistic and trivial. I'm very glad that we don't have SATs and other similar tests in Canada, and I'm sorry for those who have to write them in the US and elsewhere! They encourage mindless memorization and even cheating...
ReplyDeleteHi Nathaniel, thanks for your thoughtful post! I value your concern about standardized tests, such as the SATs and ACTs. As someone who has tutored students for these tests, I agree that they tend to create stressful situations and encourage memorization and shortcuts instead of nurturing deep problem-solving skills. Moving forward, it's crucial for us as math educators to consider how we can develop meaningful assessments that genuinely evaluate a student's capacity for critical thinking and problem-solving, rather than just their ability to memorize information.
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