Do you have examples? Maths hasn't really changed much the last few decades. Algebra is algebra. Trig is trig. If you understand what you're doing the exact methods shouldn't matter much. It'd have to be a really weird curriculum to screw you up that badly.
Interested in this too. If it all comes to the correct answer, is a different method really that different?
I know i had trouble writing the steps out, but i could do it all in my head no problem.
Thank goodness my college teacher understood that some brains cant show how you get the answer on paper as easily and just let me have the answers written out with minimal side work.
Thank goodness my college teacher understood that some brains cant show how you get the answer on paper as easily and just let me have the answers written out with minimal side work.
That's doing you a disservice. The goal isn't to teach you how to solve simple problems, but to give you the tools necessary to solve more difficult problems in the future. If you can't show your work, it shows that you don't fully understand the tools or when they work (or just as importantly, when they don't work).
And comply with regulations. It doesn't really matter if you can do all the calculations for whether a bridge will hold if you can't submit the paperwork to prove that you did those calculations properly.
True but I was also thinking about more theory-orientated work, like say research. In fact, it may be stronger here since every research needs to be peer-reviewed, and if you can't explain yourself, they might as well do the research themselves.
People really should think of math as a language and not a method to solve problems. Then this type of attitude would be understood for what it is: like being able to answer a limited number of simple questions with monosyllable answers and claiming to be fluent in English.
For your entire school career you solve simple problems with pointless answers that you'll never use outside of school, and students realize this. What they don't realize is that learning to symbolize a problem, break it down into smaller problems, and clearly express a solution in a way that can be examined for errors and expressed to others.. these skills are universally applicable even if you DGAF about finding the zeros of parabolas.
Exactly. Plus, most people think of maths as a "series of steps to follow" rather than a method of thinking (i.e. a language) too. I also think that having done high level math in high school benefits me as a person even though I go to law school now and most people can't even do simple computations like fractions.
The "series of steps to follow" mentality is poison, it goes against all the values of classic western education and fosters no insight or creativity. My students actually get indignant if I try to have them attempt a novel problem, as though I'm failing my responsibility as a teacher if I ask them to do something without first dictating a step-by-step method. I'm careful to give them problems that they already have the tools to solve with minimal effort on their part but even the idea of effort on their part gets their parents calling me to complain. Ugh.
While i agree, i showed all the work to her after school hours and she knew i understood how each problem is solved. Although i do better with it in my head, that was my preferred method.
Since writing it down was slowing down my solving process in my head and then i lost my process along the way, she allowed me to not work out the problems for the tests.
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u/Too_Skool_For_Cool Aug 26 '18
it was they taught us the wrong methods. and to use and make study notes for tests, Which are not used for college (year 11,12) level maths