I'm reading "Out of the Labyrinth" right now and even though I'm only about 50 pages in, there are some pretty powerful quotes. This one is my favorite:
"To teach it now as if it were A Rule, or (even more intimidating), The Law, is to pretend that what took years of experimenting and ingenuity is as obvious as your nose. And then, because you never really had a chance to understand what was going on, whenever you need this rule again it will come as just that - an arbitrary fiat, enforced by Them. And so the whole integrity of mathematics is compromised. The only reasonable conclusion for a struggling student to draw from such pretense is that he is irremediably stupid, or that Mathematics works in mysterious ways, its wonders to perform."
and further down the page:
"...and so a teacher, who is supposed to develop our powers of inquiry, becomes instead a messenger of Received Truth."
There are many other incredible little tidbits in this book and, so far, it is making a pretty good case for a spot in my preferred reading list. As I read the above passage, I was reminded of something that I have been thinking about a lot lately (and even alluded to at the end of this post). We talk a lot about the importance of context in math education. There are many benefits to situating mathematics into some nice context that students find engaging/relevant (mostly, it seems beneficial to help students see that math can help them describe and understand their world) and there are some sites/people that are doing this very well.
But simply using an exciting context does nothing to remedy the fact that often the "whole integrity of mathematics" can still be compromised. I mean, you can start with a really interesting and perplexing question and still completely miss the boat when it comes to helping students do their own mathematics; it just becomes a better way of teaching "The Law." These types of questions could (and should) drive a whole unit because then we can explore different parts of the problem, honor different approaches and ways of thinking, and ultimately, help students create their own math along the way.
"To teach it now as if it were A Rule, or (even more intimidating), The Law, is to pretend that what took years of experimenting and ingenuity is as obvious as your nose. And then, because you never really had a chance to understand what was going on, whenever you need this rule again it will come as just that - an arbitrary fiat, enforced by Them. And so the whole integrity of mathematics is compromised. The only reasonable conclusion for a struggling student to draw from such pretense is that he is irremediably stupid, or that Mathematics works in mysterious ways, its wonders to perform."
and further down the page:
"...and so a teacher, who is supposed to develop our powers of inquiry, becomes instead a messenger of Received Truth."
There are many other incredible little tidbits in this book and, so far, it is making a pretty good case for a spot in my preferred reading list. As I read the above passage, I was reminded of something that I have been thinking about a lot lately (and even alluded to at the end of this post). We talk a lot about the importance of context in math education. There are many benefits to situating mathematics into some nice context that students find engaging/relevant (mostly, it seems beneficial to help students see that math can help them describe and understand their world) and there are some sites/people that are doing this very well.
But simply using an exciting context does nothing to remedy the fact that often the "whole integrity of mathematics" can still be compromised. I mean, you can start with a really interesting and perplexing question and still completely miss the boat when it comes to helping students do their own mathematics; it just becomes a better way of teaching "The Law." These types of questions could (and should) drive a whole unit because then we can explore different parts of the problem, honor different approaches and ways of thinking, and ultimately, help students create their own math along the way.
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