What is Mathematics???

      'Mathematics is dreadful,complex,scary,a heap of numbers, formulae and arithmetic calculations'.

Well... that is what majority of people feel about the subject. I think the reason is obvious. They have not been exposed to the wonders of maths properly or in the right way. We saw in our class how majority of the people placed themselves in the middle on the 10 point scale for measuring 'how much of a math person you are?'. And we heard our prof say that it was the case with almost every class she has had. There was something I stumbled upon when trying to find more about the various viewpoints on mathematics.It is not anything about the subject that is wrong. But about how we view it and how the teaching goes in our schools.

      The traditional view makes us see maths as a collection of rules, arithmetic computations,algebraic equations, geometric proofs, a series of arbitrary rules, as answer oriented computation dominated subject. However, maths is actually 'making sense of things'. It is problem solving with logical reasoning. It begins with a problem based situation and allows an individual to use varied techniques to solve it.And what we call complex mathematical formulae, I see them as shortened form of problem solving techniques that have been devised carefully after experimenting on myriad sets of data and that hold truth in every case and give out consistent results.

      Maths is a universal subject and is everywhere. Just as I said in the other post,it is involved in everything , from paying bills to shapes of buildings,the counting at the traffic lights and the number of minutes in an hour. It is a study of patterns and order. No wonder , like languages, arithmetic is a necessity. It is a critical way of thinking. It is more than arithmetic and has diverse applications.

      When we think mathematically, we are actually indulged in  methodical inquiry based activities. We have a problematic situation and we want to find the answer to it. We have to be creative about how to get it going. It is about using the mathematical techniques to address the problem. Thinking mathematically is about having a mathematical, logical bent of mind that takes reasoning as the base for problem solving. Maths is both an art and science. It is based on principles that can be mastered and honed through practice.

      One thing the majority of people find is that other than basic arithmetic, we rarely ever use the formulae in our lives. So we are forced to think the rationale of even studying them. Instead of just handing down the mathematical rules to the children, what if we explain the basis ? I know that instead of telling them (a+b)2 = a2 + 2ab+b2, if I tell them how to derive a2 + 2ab+b2, and what does this mean, it makes a lot more sense and they see it meaningful.Well ... we as teachers can make a difference I feel in making our students fall in love with it.

Do Schools Kill Creativity?

      I agree with Sir Ken Robinson when he speaks about  extraordinary evidence of creativity  and capacity in children and the fact that we as adults and teachers , either overlook them or take it to be ' something wrong' with the children. We do almost everything except nurturing that talent and creativity. It does not surprise me when he attributes it to the fact that we value intelligence over creativity. The creativity thus, gets murdered by our notions and set of beliefs. We have so much hyped the intelligence part of education that we see it a measure of  successful education. He emphasises that creativity is as important as literacy.

      

       Another interesting thing he says is that 'fear of going wrong kills originality'.How true is that! We are so afraid of being wrong that we just cannot be original. Creativity and inventions are all about risk taking and going beyond what is evident . If we fear taking risks, we cannot indulge in the everlasting realm of creativity. He puts forth that we have reduced intelligence to academic ability . And all education seems to be taking us away from our body, thus limiting us to our heads. Unless you have all your senses working freely , without thinking academically, you cannot have time and chance to nurture your creativity within. He rightly brings up the case of academic inflation and that we have to rethink the fundamental principles on which we are educating our children. 

      We as teachers have a role in discovering and  nurturing creativity. Unlike the teacher in the example quoted by Sir Robinson, the teachers have to be diagnostic and see things in a positive light. We as teachers can make or mar creativity amongst children.The onus on us is hence very clear. We have to provide opportunities to the children to be creative and show their productive side and hone it. We also have to be careful that our children do not fear risk taking. Apart from producing a class of engineers and doctors- the intellectuals , we must not forget the need to discover dancers, painters and writers. The labour market situation as we see it today is just the result of overlooking this fact. The video brings in us a sense of responsibility as teachers and cautions us not to kill the creativity and make the talent suffer. 

Math Autobiography

My experience of mathematics has been a conventional one. Having said that, I do not mean to say it was boring or difficult. We mostly had the pen and paper worksheet form of exercises but it used to be fun doing them and rush to the teacher to be the first one to show her what we had done. I think it very much depends on the teacher ,how he/she brings up the topic to the children that actually they like it or dread it.
I was sharp at mathematical skills and to date I find my mathematical bent of mind taking over all other interests. Not only were my progress reports excellent but also, I gave quick responses for mathematical problems. This was because of my liking for mathematics and also because I had a wonderful set of teachers till grade 5. All I can remember is that the teachers were helpful and explained in easy ways that everyone could understand. I am not sure how they felt about the subject or towards teaching or even how they felt about the students. But student performance and progress are known to be a yardstick of teacher efficiency. Hence, I can say they were successful in their times,with the resources they had.
Our assessments used to be worksheet based comprising of two unit term assessments, a mid term assessment and a final assessment. Class test practices were not a part of final scores. The same pattern was observed in the high school. It was in grades 6,7 and 8 I had problems in mathematics. We often must have heard fear of the teacher getting down to the subject. This is what my problem was. I was not comfortable with the teacher who taught me in grade 6,7 and 8 ( it was the same teacher in grade 7 and 8...my plight).The teachers in grade 9 and 10 were helpful and helped me restore my interest in the subject. I studied mathematics for one year at university (as my program demanded).However, I studied Statistics and  Accountancy throughout my bachelors degree program. So to say , though not in its pure form,I studied mathematics in Accountancy, Management and Statistics. Even when I began teaching, my favourite subjects were Language and Mathematics. And the experience with the teachers in grades 6,7 and 8 taught me ' what to be careful about' while as a teacher and what problems the children face with the teachers at times. I taught using interactive methods, manipulatives , stories, activities and  just about anything that was around us. I wanted to make sure my students don't suffer what I had to.
As a person, I see mathematics everywhere in the shapes and sizes of houses,symmetry and patterns on clothes, number of teaspoons of sugar into my tea, in contact phone numbers, in paying the bills at the grocery, in seeing how much time is left for the class to begin, reverse counting at the traffic lights and what not. Mathematics is so much a part of our lives without us being even aware of it at times.