1. The STUPID MATH “finally“ became SWEET
You see,most students and people hate math.Do you wonder why?
This is about the best method of teaching or learning math & science .
INTRODUCTION
For some decays people in math education,have been thinking that the reason students
hate math and don’t learn it good enough is because it’s not “cool”’.So,they ‘ve used things as
colorful pictures,mathematical games, and phrases as “math is sweet” in teaching,,but still
most students don’t like it much and learn it well .
So,here we’ll see how we could teach math in classroom,textbooks,… so students learn it by
love, easily ,and effortlessly.This is also applicable for self study,as in the homeschooling.
MY OWN STORY
About 16 years ago when i was in school and for the first time had an algebra course,my
dear math teacher first taught us the mathematical operations on monomials & polynomials like
adding & multiplying,also some of the algebraic identities like the perfect square identity,and
solved for us some examples,also gave us much of homework.It took about 4,5 sessions.On the
next class,he started teaching us “factoring polynomials” this way;
“O.k. students,let’s start the new lesson,factoring. Factoring is the opposite of the
multiplying”, and he explained it by an example.Then he’d started teaching us the methods of
factoring.
I think at this point the unconscious mind of a typical student would like to kill itself,thinking
unconsciously that,for 4 sessions the teacher was talking about multiplying the expressions,and
the identities,and we did a lot of homework,and now all of a sudden he’s talking about doing the
opposite of all of what we had so far,all of the work and effort we had in doing the
homework,WITHOUT giving us a good reason of why we should do the opposite now,after all
the things.On the next sessions my teacher continued teaching the methods,and required us to
do homework,and some of them were hard. [Please,consider that almost all the math teachers
around the world teach the subject in the style of my teacher]
2. The disadvantage of this style of teaching or learning,besides of it’s crazy beginning,is that at
some point over the lesson(here factoring) when students try to solve a higher level
problem,some thing inside their heads asking them unconsciously ((what are you
doing?)),((what’s all the effort for?)), and that’s the point when they start disliking the
subject,become disappointed, and give up.This is not just for the story i told you,but it is in
every thing.For instance,consider teaching multiplying polynomials and the
identities,themseves.Here, there may not be a crazy beginning like for my story with
factoring,but again at some point when students try to solve a problem,some thing inside their
heads asking them the mentioned questions.
The Best Method
There are two types of teaching or learning right now.The first one is like my teacher’s,talking
about the non sense abstract stuffs.The second one is similar to the first one,but the instructor
FINALLY gives the students some reasons(or applications) of the non sense stuffs he/she has
taught.
THE BEST METHOD,is not like the two above,but to teach that way,for instance in teaching
factoring,the instructor after defined factoring,should talk about the most important cases in
which we need factoring(which may take at least 1 or 2 sessions), and then teaches the methods
of factoring.
The benefit of this method is that the instructor satisfies the unconscious minds of the
students at the beginning,that what are you learning here is not non sense and useless,but it is
important.I believe that by this method,first of all,students learn by love which is very
important,they’re curious to learn more about the subject(here factoring),and doing homework
would not be annoying and make them dislike the subject,because they know that we need to
factor for some useful reasons the instructor gave them at first. That would be way better if the
cases be touchable, came from practices(like an example in building a car in which we need to
for instance,factor), and cover more areas of science and engineering.
I’ve got a free tutorial channel at youtube,in which i teach some mathematical subjects in a
way close to the best method .Here are some of my courses ;
1. Factoring polynomials 2. Algebra(basics)
3. Integral calculus 4.Sequences & Series
I don’t mean that an instructor should give the students all the cases in which we need the
subject(here factoring) at the beginning,but my point is that we should give them enough of the
most important cases at first to make them realize that what are you learning in this session and
the later ones is important, and we could give them another most important cases or just cases
later.
3. Whatever i told you above is also for self learning,and not just for math but also for science.
As another subject,consider integral calculus.In a typical course or textbook,the instructor
starts by defining integrals,and may be some theorems,then the methods of integration,and
FINALLY some cases in which we need integrals,like calculating the volumes of objects and the
length of curves,you know,after well raping the brains of students by talking about the non
sense abstract stuffs. The disadvantages are;
1.After some point when students try to integrate a complicated function,some thing inside
their heads asking them unconsciously ((what are you doing?)),((what’s all the effort for?)),And
that’s the point when they start disliking the subject, and become disappointed.
2.The cases in which we need the integrals are non sense.They just say that for calculating
the length of curves we need integrals,without mentioning why we should care about length of
curves,who needs to calculate it? Again,my method here is that,after we defined the integrals
we should talk about the most important cases in which we need integrals(not at the end),
and then we should teach the methods.Also,we should give the students more details for the
cases like calculating the length of curves.
If i ran a school,i would…
So far,I’ve talked about how we should teach or learn math & science in the current
educational system & syllabuses,for the best,but if i had a school or college in which i was able
to make my own educational system & syllabuses,i would run it in a manner even better than the
best method above.
I’d like to explain it,again by my own story;
Many years ago when I was studying in elementary school(2nd
or 3rd
grade),my dear teacher
started teaching us multiplication,this way;
She drew 3 rows of apples,each row contained 5 of them.Then,she said “here we got 3 five
apples or 3 times 5 apples.Lets count the number of them [she did it].So,3 times 5 equals to
15”.Then,she solved more counting problems for us,gave us home works,and required & helped
us to memorize the multiplication table.Later,in the same grade or the next ones,they taught us
how to multiply fractions,also how to multiply decimal numbers.
The way my elementary school teachers taught us(which is still the usual teaching method) is
just focusing on teaching the tools not the real thing,or some times even forgetting about the
real things. Multiplication or generally mathematics,are tools for real things,as designing a
car,bridge,…,surveying,discovering the laws of nature. In my owned school my teachers should
not teach like that,I mean focusing on less important things like the tools,instead of the most
important things like the real things i mentioned.So,in my owned schools,when the teachers want
4. to teach multiplication to the students who are going to learn it for the first time(may be 2nd
graders),the teachers like my 2nd
or 3rd
grade teacher,may start by the counting the number of
objects problems,then the multiplication table,and at this moment stop teaching multiplication
itself,but start teaching or talking about the most real & practical things in which we need to
multiply, as calculating the area of a rectangular farm,but in good details that why do we need to
calculate it?who needs it?...
I may go even further,and make my school do not have a course titles as mathematics,but my
students would learn the necessary math in their other courses,courses like “how to design a
building”.
Here,i just talked about math,but to see how i think we should teach or learn science,also for
more information please watch my three videos below;
If i ran a school,i would... 1
If i ran a school,i would... 2
If i ran a school,i would... 3