Never Gonna Learn!

[digitS']

Do you think that there are those who are "math people," and those who are not? Maybe it's not true.

Not a Math Person? (LINK) "... there’s no such thing as a math brain.”

If you are someone who truly thinks that we learn from our mistakes, how can you believe that you are inherently, not capable of higher order math?

Honestly, I've long thought that there are so many ways to do something wrong (I mean, they are infinite!), how can I possibly learn from mistakes? Sure, there is more than one answer to most everything but, so what? Faced with a universe of errors, how does a person ever happen onto right answers? The answer to that question may well be that the mind, itself, improves. Hey!

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

Thank you, Steve, that is an excellent read and so very true.

I honestly spend many years thinking I was not a math person. I was sure I had missed school the day they taught multiplication so I never learned my facts past the fives. I always figured I had a language based brain and the other side, math and art were just not my thing brain-wise.

Then I took a logic class in college. The first day I nearly dropped out after seeing what looked like math equations (Z =A Z=A⊕B=AB+AB Z=A⊕B=AB+AB). I was sure I'd fail the course. But I decided to stick it out until the last day I could drop the class and get my money back. By that time I was flying with perfect grades on all assignments and tests. I really believe that class broke the mental block I had built up against math.

But there was still all the missed math learning functions and formulas to consider. Especially once I was placed into college algebra. That's where DH came in. We were just dating at the time, but instead of watching TV or going bowling, we spent time working through my algebra lessons.

I would solve the first problem and ask if it was correct. He would ask how I got the answer. I didn't know, I just did what I thought was right. He tore up the answer and had me do the problem again. . . . and again. . . .and again until I could explain how I got the answer. That is how I finally learned math.

My multiplication facts were finally learned my second year in fourth grade -- that was the year my students asked to practice the way we had when I had that same class in second grade (with addition and subtraction). At first many of the students beat me at the practice so, of course, I had to learn well enough to beat the best of them and by the end of the first month, I did.

Math was always my favorite thing to teach (along with science) because I understood how and why students might have problems with it.

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

well, hate to say it, but i'm not a math person.
never have been .... surely never will be.
i think it has to do w/ dyslexia. That's my excuse, anyway.

 

[Nyboy]

Was never good at math. Like Miss Daisy I think my dyslexia might have some thing to do with it. I had to take Algebra 3 x in high school. My best friend got a 98, she would tell me how easy algebra was, and couldn't understand how I would fail.

 

[Carol Dee]

UGH math, not my best subject. I much preferred the arts and sciences. (Although I am not dyslexic I struggled with math equations.)

 

[digitS']

I steadily worsened in math. A low A in elementary school evolved into a low C in high school. I did so poorly in a "fundamentals" college class, I had to take it over before I was faced with a devil of a lot of work to come up with a required B in Statistics.

I'm wondering about the memorization of the subject that TV story is criticizing. Perhaps this "critical thinking" that the liberal arts people consider so highly is needed in teaching math to young people.

If American students really do have this low math performance, maybe the math teachers need to be taking a lesson from some of the other methods.

Whatever the case, those with math learning problems actually improved their brains in the struggle! Exercise is good for us - must be the lesson. Each stumble out of the starting blocks must make us more thoughtful, creative, imaginative ... Nothing wrong with that.

Steve

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i had that same situation going from high on the math skills in elementary & middle school to suddenly dropping when i got into high school. i was getting the right answers but because i didn't show the correct format the teacher was looking for i kept getting them wrong. sounds like the Common Core math crud was in place before they started using it. i did great with Finite Math when i was in college and i tested out of having to take any additional math classes so i still don't get what was wrong with the HS issues and math skills then.

 

[Smart Red]

Was never good at math. Like Miss Daisy I think my dyslexia might have some thing to do with it. I had to take Algebra 3 x in high school. My best friend got a 98, she would tell me how easy algebra was, and couldn't understand how I would fail.

I got through algebra in my first try. I always believed the only reason I slid through (with a D) was because the teacher was a close friend of my father's rather then that I deserved the gift of a D. (Averaging my quarterly grades did not work out to the final D). I learned at an early age that nepotism is not always a bad thing.

 

[thistlebloom]

I have always said that I'm not a math person, not even a number person, they just don't stick with me the way words do.
But secretly I actually like math, the sorting out a problem and coming out with a correct answer.

With me the math anxiety began in 5th grade. It was fractions or decimals at that stage that confused me, and at our quarterly report card time I was called up to the teachers desk to go over my grades.
In a conversation volume voice I was told that I was getting a D in math.
A ripple of snickers rolled through the class and I blushed and teared up.
The teacher told me not to be a crybaby and sent me back to my desk.

So there I was feeling very unintelligent and the slow slide started.
In High School only one year of math was required and I barely made it through that, no way was I ever going to take any more math if I had anything to say about it!
I don't know why I never asked my parents for help, I was really not a dumb person, but was convinced I couldn't do any sort of math beyond the basics.
My parents were probably just relieved I kept my nose clean after my older brothers got into so much trouble and didn't ask if I needed anything.

I don't know.
I think things could have been much different for me scholastically if I had been helped over that little hump that turned into a mountain.

Mr. Barris, if you're still around I hope you mended your ways and started offering help instead of a black spot.

 

[Smart Red]

I don't know why I never asked my parents for help, I was really not a dumb person, but was convinced I couldn't do any sort of math beyond the basics.

That is a question I often asked myself -- in my adult years. Dad was a teacher. Why I never thought of asking him for help in math is beyond me. He probably would have loved being asked to help.

The rest of school seemed so easy -- and I was so sure I wasn't math-minded -- that asking for help would have been an admission of my 'failure' to succeed. Of course, getting D's in algebra and Geometry weren't particularly successful, were they? Like you, very little math was required and I was thrilled to have those two classes behind me.