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Patrick Quinn

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A changed school system.

Math, a subject people commonly struggle with. While I do not myself, which is hard to state considering I am 13 years of age, we could change our school system so this gets put out of effect. Think of everything as a simple idea. For example programming. It's really just typing in a descriptive phrase, line by line, to make a program. Now if our school system could teach everything as a simple idea which branches, it would be effective, as that simple idea catches on and helps them learn the rest. Now, if you can remember when you took AP calculus, Algebra III, or any other advanced math class, did they ever simplify? No, they throw advanced concepts, throwing people off. I have found an effective way to learn by looking at everything simple. I now can program well, and have been asked by teachers to make apps that can transmit news feeds. Do you think this is an intelligent way of learning?

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    James Zhang 30+

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    Sep 15 2012: I think the easiest way to understand math is just practice enough until you get it.

    There should be also be a differentiation between two aspects of math: computational and conceptual. A lot of the people who grasp the logic of math easily probably would find repetitive computations really boring, while the people who struggle with math may find computations easier and more preferable but struggle with the concept.
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    Gail . 50+

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    Sep 15 2012: Every student is different. I struggled with math until I understood how it related to my world. When I was in school, I was simply expected to learn formulas without knowing why I was learning them. I didn't "get" math until I was in my 30s. I hope that you are being better treated than I was in my formal educational experience.

    what applies to math also applies to every other subject. Each field branches out, and if you study enough fields, the "boxes" begin to merge until you can see how each part relates to the whole.
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    Fritzie Reisner 100+

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    Sep 15 2012: It seems to me these basic math classes were traditionally taught sequentially from simple building blocks.

    Now they may be used as an opportunity to acquaint students with strategies for dealing with complex subjects themselves, rather than by what used to be called "spoon-feeding."

    A problem when these high school math classes were taught highly algorithmically was that as soon as students hit actually advanced math at university, math that cannot be approached that way, students were overwhlemed.
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      Gail . 50+

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      Sep 15 2012: Hi, Fritz. Can you tell me what you mean by "math classes were taught highly algorithmically"? Thanks
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        Fritzie Reisner 100+

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        Sep 15 2012: Math used to be taught as sets of rules and procedures that would become automatic with practice. For example, most of us learned a particular way of multiplying multdigit numbers, long division, solving linear equations, solving simultaneous linear equations, solving quadratic equations, finding the vertex of a parabola, taking the derivitive using a combination of only five basic formulas, and so forth. Many did not know why these methods worked but accepted the kit of procedures from the teacher.
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          James Zhang 30+

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          Sep 15 2012: I could understand though, that when you ask why something is like what it is for a simple concept, it introduces an even more complex issue that would probably confuse more than enlighten.
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