Why is it that students so often claim “I am no good at math”? Here is one theory:
- In primary grades the major emphasis is on recall of basic math facts (e.g. 3 + 5).
- Many kids aren’t wired for simple recall (they aren’t good at memorizing). I’m not.
- Commonly used instructional approaches don’t give the immediate feedback essential to developing simple recall (e.g. do this worksheet which will be graded later today or tomorrow).
- Because of the heavy emphasis on simple recall kids perceive that it represents all of math.
- This Simon-Says approach to math instruction often continues throughout a student’s public education.
- By the time students are given the chance to engage in other types of mathematical thinking, they have developed a negative self-perception that pre-disposes them against trying or learning math.
Posted on April 22nd, 2008 by joel
Filed under: math education
I’d add another — which is that math tends to have a bit of a negative social bias. I’d compare it to something like vegetables:
When kids are growing up, they may actually *like* eating broccoli, cauliflower and vegetable pizza (we still love that recipe) at home. Eventually, though, they start going to school and realizing that all their friends “hate” veggies. They pick up on the notion from their peers, who likely got it from other peers, older siblings, and even TV (which makes fun of veggies all too often).