| Discussion: | Roundtable |
| Topic: | Teaching Mathematics as a Science |
| Post a new topic to the Roundtable Discussion discussion |
| ||||||||
| Subject: | RE: Teaching Mathematics as a Science |
| Author: | Alice |
| Date: | Aug 8 2004 |
 |
|
I use the discovery method of teaching math. In the beginning most of my
students rebel. They feel that by not giving them answers and teaching rote, I
am teaching wrong.
Some even tell me so.
I persist. (I even left a tenured job because they insisted I teach rote.)
By the end of the first semester of making hypotheses and testing them, after
having discovered truths in math and then seeing that their textbook says
virtually the same thing,(And a lot of "doesn't that feel good" from me)... most
students are very proud of their discoveries.
We call conjectures by student names, and they own them.
By the end of the year, when I ask them to tell me what they thought I should
keep in my lessons, and what should be changed, I get notes about how they
fought me in the beginning, but they really learned to like math this
year...Their test results usually soar too, even though I don't seem to be
teaching for the tests.
I've used this method with 7th grade average students, through Calculus in the
last 8 years. My principal agrees that students like math after being in my
class.
Try it, you'll like it.
| |||||||
| Post a new topic to the Roundtable Discussion discussion | |||||||