The Problem with Math
There are a lot of ways to divide people into groups: dog person or cat person, Mac or PC, boxers or briefs…but what about those of us who can do math and those who can't?
Why do so many of us struggle with mathematics? Otherwise bright young people who don't believe they can do math limit their career choices and damage their self-esteem. And many adults lack basic life skills that depend on simple math – balancing a chequebook (if anyone does that anymore…), calculating a tip, dealing with currencies, interest rates – even recipes.
Poor student math performance is the subject of much debate, discussion and hand-wringing. What can educators do to reduce math anxiety? Can different approaches to teaching the subject, such as JUMP Math, improve student success? Perhaps most students shouldn't be expected to master higher math.
I don't know why math education isn't producing better results, but I do think it's a shame that so many of us have placed math well outside our comfort zone.
Surely you see where I'm going with this – the library has lots of books to help those of us who are mathematically challenged to tackle our anxiety and brush up on our skills:
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2 thoughts on “The Problem with Math”
Math Girls is an excellent fictionalized book on math and the TPL has it.
Hi Orla,
Thanks for your suggestion. Fiction can be a great way to approach a challenging or difficult topic.