How to Teach Mathematics and Solve Problems

02.04.2019

How to Teach Mathematics and Solve Problems
School
University education
Science and Technology

Is math a problem or a solution? Rather, the second, and I have the audacity to prove this. But firstly, we need to understand the problems that prevent us from studying mathematics.

  1. Lack of initiative. The degree of understanding of things lies in their love. If mathematics is a huge pain for you, then it simply will not be easily understandable to you - it will do everything in order to no to settle in your brain…
  2. Lack of perseverance. The more effort, the better the result. If today you study arithmetic, and tomorrow you want to take integrals, be prepared for failure. Want to succeed in learning - devote regular work hours to math.
  3. Problems with remembering the material. The teachers constantly tell the students the same thing, because after a while they forget the material covered. Learned - forgot, learned - forgot ... So that is how we live.
  4. The desire to solve all by using the formulas. Children become opportunists in life, if there is a formula, plot numbers - and everything is ready. And then life throws up plus and minus infinity of such extraordinary and complex problems that are not amenable to any formulas.

Everyone is waiting for quick results. Solving a problem is easy - this is what the absolute majority wants. The trouble is that a quick solution to problems is not delayed in the head. Mathematics solves problems for hundreds and thousands of years and still continues to do so.

Problems today should not be solved quickly - this is a direct path to dullness and adaptation to the environment. Instead of looking for new ways to solve an exercise or problem, we impose a sentence that it does not have a solution. The formula does not work.

Problems with mathematics have become so large-scale that in the last 40 years the concept of the fear of mathematics, mathematics-phobia, has appeared. Already written dozens or hundreds of books about how to overcome the anxiety of math. Mathematics will come and save you from numerical misfortune.

The textbook is a wonderful thing, but far from the main one in the teaching of mathematics. The verbal way of formulating the assignment does not arouse the pupil’s imagination and fantasy. At the same time, textbook suppresses the pupil’s desire to begin his/her decision. Children should not be afraid of mathematics, they should be interested in it.

How to Teach Mathematics

Use multimedia as a form of task formulation. Instead of asking how quickly the tank will fill with water, if the filling speed is 5 m/s, and the volume of the tank ... God, how boring… Show the video where the vessel fills with water, and the children themselves will ask when this vessel will finally be full. Bring it to class and demonstrate the process.

Learn math on the example of apples or cakes, if necessary - bring this damn cake to class and teach your children fractions. Children do not understand mathematics, because it is divorced from real life. Mathematics is "inhuman" for them. Where it is taught as a human discipline, it flourishes and has practical application. Mathematics is not about calculating, but about solving problems.

The modern education system wants speed and accuracy in solving problems, which is absolutely opposite to solving problems. It requires patience and the ability to take a hit, a kind of mathematical slap. Mathematics should be more applied: you can try to solve the problem in one way and fail. Then it makes sense to approach the other side. Here you will not get rid of plotting some numbers in the formulas - problems should be solved by thinking and productive failure.

Mathematics is a human science, and each of us is able to understand it. It is not hard and complicated. This is the same language as English or Spanish, because it is used for communication between people. The laws of nature are written in the language of mathematics. And we need to live in harmony with nature.

Rate the article