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TWIB-IV: Approaching the End
From the week of February 22-28, 2010.
A Mathematician's Lament - Paul Lockhart
This book starts off with a brilliantly clever question: What if music classes were taught in the same manner as mathematics classes? What if music teachers had their students memorise long lists of facts and formulas about music without ever putting actual musical instruments into their hands? Obviously, they would create armies of former music students with little understanding of how music works and even less appreciation for it. At this point, Lockhart makes a compelling case that mathematics are not being taught effectively in Western schools.
Where Lockhart stumbles--and stumbles hard--is in his proposed solution to this problem, which is to give students mathematical problems and let them solve them entirely on their own, at their own pace. While Lockhart is certainly on the right track by suggesting that mathematics is best taught as an enjoyable puzzle and not tedious memorisation, forcing students to figure out the basics on their own is not only impractical given the constraints of school schedules, but tantamount to giving music students blocks of wood and telling them that if they really want to understand music, they need to figure out how musical instruments work first. Lockhart is correct in pointing out a major failing in the way mathematics is currently taught, but in failing to acknowledge that not everyone who finds mathematics interesting or enjoyable will wish to dedicate their entire energies to it, he overcorrects in the opposite direction.
That will be all.
A Mathematician's Lament - Paul Lockhart
This book starts off with a brilliantly clever question: What if music classes were taught in the same manner as mathematics classes? What if music teachers had their students memorise long lists of facts and formulas about music without ever putting actual musical instruments into their hands? Obviously, they would create armies of former music students with little understanding of how music works and even less appreciation for it. At this point, Lockhart makes a compelling case that mathematics are not being taught effectively in Western schools.
Where Lockhart stumbles--and stumbles hard--is in his proposed solution to this problem, which is to give students mathematical problems and let them solve them entirely on their own, at their own pace. While Lockhart is certainly on the right track by suggesting that mathematics is best taught as an enjoyable puzzle and not tedious memorisation, forcing students to figure out the basics on their own is not only impractical given the constraints of school schedules, but tantamount to giving music students blocks of wood and telling them that if they really want to understand music, they need to figure out how musical instruments work first. Lockhart is correct in pointing out a major failing in the way mathematics is currently taught, but in failing to acknowledge that not everyone who finds mathematics interesting or enjoyable will wish to dedicate their entire energies to it, he overcorrects in the opposite direction.
That will be all.
no subject
no subject
Mathemeticians, I have no opinions on either way;-)