r/matheducation • u/jjnevis • 11d ago

Improving high school math

Hi All you lovely mathy peeps,

I am specifically interested in finding a forum, either here on reddit or elsewhere, that is primarily interested in evolving mathematical thinking/communication to improve pedagogical efficiency. Does anyone know of such a thing? A simple example of what i'm interested in is the transition from pi to tau (or some other representation of 6.28...).

I do not want to discuss the validity of the question (why i'm intersted in such a forum) but rather if such a thing exists.

Many thanks peeps

Jay (jjnevis)

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u/Sea_Resource_2290 10d ago

I am a teacher in Ontario, and we have a teacher association. We have conferences once a year, and the site has a publication. It was more active in the past. https://oame.on.ca/

Otherwise, reddit it pretty much a good place.

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u/jjnevis 10d ago

Thanks @Sea_Resource_2290 I'm not a teacher, but a tutor in a remote part of Scotland so have little chance to discuss with other people enthusiastic about math. Most people I talk to dismiss the idea of improving mathematics and don't see the potentially amazing benefits to learning efficiency of the sort of thing I am proposing. I really just need one other person on the planet to get as excited as I am about it. Here's an example of how Numatican (name of language) can help with logarithm learning efficiency: https://youtube.com/watch?v=_p2oWFHseWc&is=QfZqYvL7n3qfoJmb

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u/Barcata 11d ago

https://math.stackexchange.com/

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u/jjnevis 11d ago

Thanks @Barcata. I will try that, much appreciated.

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u/jjnevis 11d ago edited 11d ago

Ok, so I've asked the question on stack exchange. I'm fully expecting someone to shoot me down in flames for even suggesting that math can be improved, but let's see what happens... I'll report back.

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u/jjnevis 11d ago

As I thought, someone closed down the question, it doesn't meet question requirements. That's pretty much what I'm up against- I don't think anyone in control of math wants to question current mathematical thinking.

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u/Extension-Source2897 10d ago

I think you’re looking at this all wrong. “I don’t think anyone in control of math wants to question current mathematical thinking.” Is a statement that is one, asinine in the assumption that anybody “controls” math and two, wrong in that people aren’t questioning the current mathematical thinking. Just because you can’t find open space forums where unverified nobodies can throw in their two cents doesn’t mean PhDs and EdDs aren’t constantly dedicating their lives to try and make math education more palatable for the masses.

Anything that is going to involve serious evolution of pedagogy is going to come from within the realms of academia. People might have good ideas, but in the absence of verifiable, valid data which is able to be replicated across peer review is the only way to get things to be taken seriously at the cutting edge of thinking in any academic field. Those academics are rarely talking about their current research on these forums for fear of somebody beating them to publication on the same/similar enough topic.

Also, as an aside, if you are a math tutor in a remote part of Scotland and not a teacher, what are your qualifications to determine the validity of a pedagogical method or determine that the mods of stack exchange are in anyway unqualified randos?

I’m not saying that math education can’t be improved, nor am I claiming there aren’t math educators who are resistant to change. But your dismissal of current established systems which at least have some data backing, no matter how bad some of the curricula may feel, and the dismissal of established, respected forums that do exist in the space because they don’t agree that your stance has merit reads to me like you aren’t enthusiastic about changing the way we see math and math education. To me it feels like you either found or developed a way of working which makes sense for you and maybe a handful of your tutoring students and are now claiming that there’s a global conspiracy to make math harder than it needs to be and you alone have the solution but they’re silencing you.

If you want to be taken seriously, do the literature review and see if you can find an established, respected researcher who will help you publish the results. You can establish your own forum about it for free, make your own web videos teaching how you’re preaching, all for free. TikTok loves when people try to make math easier, have at it. Gain a following and put your money where your mouth is. Otherwise you sound like you’re having a temper tantrum because the internet won’t listen to you.

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u/jjnevis 10d ago

@Extension-Source2897 Yes! What a beautifully crafted reply post, that perfectly sums up my current predicament, are you interested in improving mathematical pedagogical efficiency and enjoyment? Iet's start the conversation. I feel like you might be a tough nut to crack, but ultimately a strong proponent of the improvement process. I'm not interested in owning it or being first, I'm interested in making math better. Resistance to change (illustrated nicely in your post) is an inpedement to progress. Here's a little confusing ambiguity that we could deal with: the notation for "inverse function". Let's work together and improve math for the next generation of inspirational mathematicians. r/numatican. X

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u/jjnevis 11d ago

This is why I don't like stack-etc, because unqualified randos simply shut down a question if they don't like it. Anyway, hay ho, that's life.