1510 Post #1: Why are we doing this again?

As I desperately try to keep my head above the swirling numbers; I often question what it was that drew me to math and education in the first place. In elementary school I was the student who loved math but never really excelled at it. I had all the confidence and little skill set to match. Now as I get older, I am finally able to see the path that my teachers tried to lead me down so many (not going to say how many) years before.


This tied in well with the reading for this week regarding the way math is being taught to our children. Often times as youth we are told that x+y=z because it does. You follow this idea and this rule and you will get this outcome. This has been very little explanation to those of us who love the question "why?". The YouTube clip of a response to "An Inconvenient Truth" questioned if we just want them to follow the route and memorize the path, or do we want our children to have a deep cognitive base in the material which they can also explain?


Not only will having a base factual knowledge of the material we will teach our students increase their self-efficacy toward math; they will also understand why it is they will need it or apply it toward their life. As educators we need to remember that it is not always about the end result as much as it is about the journey and understanding that is picked up along the way. Math can be a very scary subject to students because there is little wiggle room for interpretation. Explaining the reason behind the madness will go far for many students who love the word why.