WhyMathReformHappens

In EverydayMathDoesItToo, I said that I have a theory about why math reform happens.

I think math reform movements happen largely because it's boring for most teachers to teach the same math class over and over.

If you teach history, you can do it a little differently every time. If you teach the Civil War, then one year you can emphasize the Northern perspective, next year the Southern. If you teach English, you can have the kids read different books; even if you have to teach the same book every year, the discussion takes you in a different direction every time.

But fractions don't change much, and the struggles that kids have to go through to understand them don't change much either. It doesn't take too long for a teacher to get to the point where they can teach the material, and then they can get very bored with it.

And then these are teachers who care about kids; and the kids complain about how hard and tedious math can be; and the teachers want to fix that problem. They want to take away the hardness and the tedium. Why should they be bored teaching the same old dry stuff over and over, they think, when the kids are struggling and unhappy anyway? Can't we make the whole experience better for all of us?

And so math reform movements fall on fertile ground, always.

As Catherine observed in NotTheWholeStoryPart2, math reform dates back in the United States to at least 1923. The 1923 brand of math reform has come and gone, and New Math in the 1960s came and went. Math reform movements that eschew teaching standard material generally have a long half-life -- long enough to do a lot of damage -- but in the end, they fail.

The people who really go on to be able to use math in their lives -- to understand their taxes, their checkbooks, their investments, or accounting, finance, engineering, and science -- all have learned how to do calculations, how to manipulate fractions, and how to do algebra, without the aid of calculators or computers. They don't usually do it without calculators and computers, but to a man they could.

So how to alleviate boredom in the classroom, on the part of both teachers and students?

In order to stay engaged, teachers have to focus on something other than the material alone. Of course, they have to know the material cold; but they have to be interested in the process by which kids learn mathematics, get stuck, and get unstuck. Math teaching (all teaching, for that matter) takes expertise in the cognitive psychology of children; some kids will just get it, and some few will always get stuck, and you have to cast about looking for a way to help them understand. It's continually striving for a deeper understanding of the material, and a deeper understanding of the students, that can keep teaching interesting.

The book Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics was a really enlightening read for me, because it showed how a teacher's understanding of mathematics at even the elementary levels can really be deepened over time, just by the challenge of trying to help many different kids understand it.

And what can keep the students interested? It's quite simple: getting it will charge a kid up. Kids love to acquire skills; they correctly see that skills bring power in the grownup world. It's repeated failure -- knowing that they're not getting it, and falling farther behind -- that will sicken a kid on math.

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Comments

"I think math reform movements happen largely because it's boring for most teachers to teach the same math class over and over."

That's exactly what Ed says.

In fact, he said that teachers 'can't' teach the same material every year; they'd get bored.

Naturally that led to me saying I don't care about the teachers, I care about the kids (this is not true, obviously, but OTOH, yes, I do put kids-learning-math above teachers-being-interested-in-their-jobs).

I also said plenty of people have boring jobs, including me from time to time, and they're still expected to do them.

-- CatherineJohnson - 07 Jun 2005

Math's should not be boring and teaching Math is never boring! When I see that "light come on" in a child's countenance or hear a student say, "Oh, I know what you're teaching us," that gets me excited! It's what I thrive on. And I teach a traditional, teacher directed curriculum where (parents tell me) students can't wait to get to Math class. And you take away the hardness by giving them an algorithm that works every time. Carolyn, your last paragraph nails it!! My experience is that kids don't mind the work if they can get the answer. Your last sentence should become your "closer" or be at the top of your web page every day! Practice doesn't destroy the joy of math, it's the worry that comes from not knowing if you're going to be able to "get it" -- that kills the joy. Keep up the good work.

-- CarolynMorgan - 07 Jun 2005

I feel the same way, and I taught for a number of years. The fun of teaching isn't exactly about the 'content' . . . it's about the kids getting the content . . . more later!

-- CatherineJohnson - 07 Jun 2005

Carolyn, I can tell you really love your work!!!

I wish I had known what I know now about teaching math back when I was teaching math. It was working with my son, not working with my students, that really got me interested in teaching math.

And Catherine, I agree with you too. In teaching math, it helps, perhaps, to love math -- but I think it helps more to love the kids.

-- CarolynJohnston - 07 Jun 2005