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Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Ten Reasons Why Students Hate Math

Here are my thoughts:

1. They encounter during their elementary and high school math teachers who are semi-literate, or who teach their pupils the wrong things, or who are just one chapter ahead of their pupils in digesting the book they are in teaching.

2. Teachers traumatized students by giving them instant quiz or exam when some students misbehave, thereby giving a signal that Math equates punishment. This make the pupils or students hate Math and develop dyscalculia (fear in math).

3. They were given Math textbooks that are ineffectual which often pose problems. You can detect textbook that will make pupils hate the subjects when you find on that book movement from one skill or topic to another is too quick; there is no chapter outline, no exercises or if there are its limited in variety, no chapter examination and do not provide answers to that chapter examination.

4. Teachers did not correlate math to real-life situations. Instead of getting high grades, teacher’s should encourage independent thinking like: giving and receiving correct change, balancing a checkbook, using scales, estimating the amount of gas needed to travel a certain distance, and the like. Use of play money, toy clocks, blocks of different shapes should supplement the textbook.

5. Teachers assign the same work to everyone in the class. They should remember the principle of bell curve wherein 2/3 of the class may understand Math while the 1/3 are frustrated from trying to solve the impossible.

6. Pupils or Students felt that they are not love by their Math teachers. After years of handling students, I can conclude that students perform well mainly based on their perception of the teacher. If the pupils or students were treated as morons and slow learners which the teacher reinforced almost everyday expect them to think that way. Math teachers, love your students.

7. Pupils or students are not allowed to solve each problem in a different way. Let us accept the fact that in mathemetics, though an exact science, we encounter pupils or students who solve Math problems creatively. Cheer them!

8. Teachers teach math only by the book, problem by problem, page by page then we asked why they are bored. Be creative, like integrate math and music, sing while teaching addition!

9. Teachers make Math difficult when in fact it can be taught in a simplest way possible. Strengthen the basic, illustrate laws and principles and use everyday life situations.

10. Pupils or students can detect Math teachers who do not enjoy what they are doing. Since enjoyment is contagious, we can see students enjoying math if their teacher enjoys teaching it. If the students know that the teacher is fooling them, they will think that Math is a joke, a real big joke.


ALC

5 comments:

  1. my advice
    play numbers
    dont let numbers trick you

    ReplyDelete
  2. In my experience when I was in high school, my teacher only used to teach us the basics and during exams or in quizzes they always give complicated problems. For me,it served as a good foundation in learning math beacause it made me think more and apply the principles that the teacher has taught me. It made me understand the lessoon deeply.

    Of course, not everyone in the class think the same way I did. For some people,they consider that technique as a torture to them because they are used with the "spoon feed" method.

    I think it is the best way to learn math. Giving different and challenging problems can trigger our minds to think more. A little positive attitude towards the lesson will help a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  3. i was once good in math... elementary palang...pero when i was in highschool binagsak ako ng prof ko... di ko alam kung bakit... nadismaya ako sa math.. cmula nun kinatamaran ko ng magsolve.... :(

    ReplyDelete
  4. I always thought that there are person who are really good in math unfortunately I am not one of those people that’s why I don’t like math that much. But the moment that you told us that there is no person that is born “good in math” and all we need is practice I’ve decided to learn more in numbers by means of practice.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous11:41 PM

    with the kind of pupils we have at present parang ang hirap magturo ng math.Why? because we cannot force our pupils to master the multiplication table.. di po sila takot sa guro unlike before noong ako ang pupil kailangan kong mamaster kc our teacher will get angry pag d namin alam ang sagot pero ngayon....mahirap na ang matawag sa principal's office kapag ang bata nagsumbong pag pinagalitan ng guro...kaya kawawa naman tayo..

    ReplyDelete