Published on 12, July, 2020
I've seen the GCSE results are in today and it's made me aware (again) of how badly we seem to teach both these subjects.
IHave we still not learned anything about learning difficulties? I wonder if problems with maths are less likely to be diagnosed and helped than those with English, particularly reading and writing, but do we understand what we're taught?
My Dad was terrified of maths, if you put a maths problem in front of him, he'd totally go to pieces and insist he couldn't do it, but if you gave him a tape measure and a pencil and paper and asked him how much wall paper you'd need to cover a room, he do fine and tell you how much paint you'd need too. It makes me wonder if we wouldn't be better off teaching maths practically, like getting a class of children in groups to design a room, work out how much of what types of materials you'd need, how to cost them, stuff like that?
I'm told that as an autistic woman I should have a love of classic literature, I don't I hate it, it annoys me and I don't relate to it at all. I was terrible at English, I could never write stories, I don't understand most poetry, it dosen't speak to me, it's just a set of disjointed images and I don't think I've ever written a poem and wouldn't know where to begin.
I can't speak about English, but part of the problem with Maths is that the teachers simply do not (most of them) know enough Maths to explain it well.
I have a Maths degree, 4 years studying at uni. Only one of my teachers in secondary school had a Maths degree, the other 6 or 7 didn't. I really struggled with Maths until I was taught by her. She could answer all my 'but why' questions, and helped me make sense of things I couldn't 'join up' in my mind. She explained to me that many Maths teachers have degrees in other science subjects, Chemistry, Physics, but they can't get a job teaching their subject. Since there are so many vacancies for Maths teachers, and it is a core subject so there are plenty of classes to teach, it is easier for them to get a job teaching Maths. In this case, the teachers don't have to be too far ahead of what they are teaching to be able to teach the class.
This is important, because it's not until you are near the completion of your studies that it all starts to make sense. After 4 years studying at uni, the reason WHY you learn stuff in secondary school makes sense. So if you only complete the first year or second year courses at uni (the minimum required to teach it) you don't have the big picture and haven't made sense of it all. So how can you explain it to others in a way that makes sense to them?
This is why, in TheCatWoman's post below, she was marked 'wrong' by doing 6 X 9 as 6 X 10 - 6. The teacher simply knew the method they were taught, or were expected to teach from the textbook. Someone with a Maths degree will know there are many ways to solve any problem in Maths, so if you manage to unlock a method sooner than the educational system 'expects' you to achieve it, you wouldn't be marked wrong, the Maths teacher would explain that your method is correct, however the rest of the class are learning a different method because it is how most people 'do' it - i.e. keep adding 9 six times. They would encourage you to try and use both in written examinations to ensure you don't lose marks. Autistic people would (I guess) find these methods quicker than NTs simply because of the difference in wiring in our brain.
I always need to know why and some NTs don't understand that. I think it helps to remember things. Just facts don't work.
I like watching Countdown. The word bit has helped me remember more words. The number bit is good because like your explanation above you can find the answer any way that gets to the result.
Like I said it's consensus reality. Lots of peoples have few numbers, probably the amount they can count on one hand and then "lots". They may use proportions to work out how much livestock they have just like modern farmers do, if you have one black sheep for every ten white sheep, then you don't have to count individuals, just are there roughly the same proportion of black sheep to white ones.
TheCatWoman said:why does 2+2=4
Because they defined it that way, like PixieFox describes. In the same way they defined symbols for the sounds that make up words and called them letters. It takes something concrete, like apples, to show how addition works, to explain a theoretical concept of counting.
It is just another science, built up from hundreds of years of learning and exploration.
TheCatWoman said:they don't explain what they want from you properly
Modern teaching attempts to do this by having learning objectives for each class and course. The teachers don't know that your way is valid unless they have been taught it. They might see it as coincidence. They have been taught there is only 1 way to get the correct answer, because they haven't studied the subject enough to know that other ways are equally valid. In effect, you were penalised for their lack of knowledge?
A lot of Maths didn't make sense until I got to quite a high level - which didn't help me much at school, but I wanted to know more. I always liked the applied, rather than pure, Maths, as that explained the mechanics of pendulums, springs and forces acting on objects like bridges, the calculus of ratios and putting a rocket to the moon, the different counting systems, electromagnetism and how magnets/MRI work. The pure/theoretical stuff was like arguing about belly button fluff... number theory, topology (fantasies in dimensions greater than the 4 we live with), and many other things I learned to pass exams but forgot afterwards.
I'd say the most important thing to learn from Maths, is that there are usually many ways to solve a problem, but often this is not what is taught.
Hi Cat Woman, so why does 2+2=4?
Numbers are used to count, measure and calculate. The actual numbers are just symbols. So for instance, if you see this amount of people in a room: we use the symbol 2
If this many people then join them: there are now this many people in the room: which we call 4.
So that's why 2 + 2 = 4, because 2 and 4 are symbols used to express how many there are of something.
I remember hearing many years ago about a tribe who only used a small amount of numbers, after which they just used "many".
Oh yes, why does 2+2=4? I guess the answer is because all our buildings would fall down if it didn't, but I do wonder how much of maths is consensus reality? I don't see any internal logic to maths, but then my brain glazes over at the mention of the word, so much so that I'm finding this thread hard going and I started it!
I don't think I've ever knew Pythagoras had a theorem? Let alone that I had to learn it or them?
One of the things that bugs me about so much teaching and the teaching of maths in particular is they don't explain what they want from you properly. If I'd have known my teachers wanted me to do it their way rather than my way, I would of struggled but done it, I still don't see why though. I was really fed up on finding out that the reason I got a fraction wrong because nobody had ever told me that the fraction sign basically meant of, I had years of hell because of this.