Math: Supporting Students and Educators in Math

As interdisciplinary instruction remained a topic of discussion, educators also discussed the nuances of teaching math, debating the importance of conceptual understanding versus memorization, as well as issues of literacy and real-world application.

  • “I have taught math for many years and one thing I always stressed was the ‘why’…. Students needed to understand the reason for the thing and not just memorize the steps. Real life is made of ‘word problems’, and if you don’t know why, you will always be lost…” —Math Teacher in Texas
    • “The ‘Math Wars’ is decades old-there’s still a somewhat quiet argument going on (direct instruction vs constructivism). Just as with the literacy debate, it’s not ‘this or that’ but ‘this & that’.” —Teacher in New York
    • “I feel this, I really didn’t understand what was happening in a multiplication equation until much later. I wish we rotated between procedural and conceptual. My school is mostly conceptual and it feels like kids get to cognitive overload really quickly.” —Elementary Teacher in California
      • “Wish it was – 1 week procedural & goal is fluency, 2nd week math games & goal is fluency + conceptual application. Teaching by adding with fake money & a register- borrowing is so logical all of a sudden! The break-throughs were like nothing I’d seen before.” —Elementary Teacher in California
    • “I would love this, too! I think a lot of math ‘phobia’ (which people talk a lot about these days) is based on exactly what you mentioned — memorizing definitions with nothing to back it up. When students really understand the principles, a lot of math phobia evaporates.” —Post-Secondary Educator in Texas
    • “I agree! If someone says, ‘I can’t read,’ everyone breaks their neck to correct the problem. If someone says, ‘I can’t do math,’ they’re met with,’It’s ok, honey, I never was good at math, either.’ We need a paradigm shift.” —Teacher in Kentucky
    • “I was also taught math with a “hope you figure out how to apply this later” style. A memorization without understanding/application approach will be forgotten later. So what’s the point???” —Math Teacher in Kansas
  • “Here’s a thought I’m having today: If we want math class to be widely applicable (content-wise) to the ‘real world,’ where does the content stop? Can we argue for anything beyond basic arithmetic, geometry, statistics, and probability?” —Math Teacher in Canada
    • “I get what you’re saying and do have an opinion on this… but couldn’t the same logic be applied to every subject? I don’t know a lot of folks who are grateful they learned Shakespeare. I think school, in general, is a lot of wasted time, and I wish math wasn’t always the bad guy.” —Educator in South Carolina
    • “I would argue that the basics of algebra is pretty well essential, e.g. for writing formulas in excel. That being said, math isn’t just for direct application to the real world – it has a beauty and logic in and of itself – and we are doing students a disservice to deny them that.” —Math Teacher, N/A
    • “With my math students I love to chat with them about how math teaches us to recognize and interpret patterns, and problem solve. Will those problems involve parabolas? Doubtful. But hopefully you will be able to recognize patterns and adjust for them. A good manager skill.” —Educator in Canada
    • “If we look past math to all of the content areas, how many of them can say that their content is applicable to daily life beyond grade 8? I’d imagine very few, unless you intend to pursue a career that will make use of that content.” —Math Educator in Massachusetts
  • “I had a math teacher in my class, and he was outright antagonistic at the beginning. Then he started asking questions and realized how much his classroom instruction could be enhanced by partnering with the school librarian.” —Educator in Washington, D.C.
  • “Literacy is the hot topic now, but I would love to see more math discussion. I grew up with ‘just memorize these steps’ and had to take intermediate algebra 3 times in community college to pass it…math was always where I was embarrassed (and used my fingers under the table).” —Early Education Teacher in Washington
    • “Side note to this: it still stresses me out when I get pulled to sub in a 4-6 grade class and the teacher has just left a math worksheet. I have to teach/reteach myself before I do the older kid math and that kills me (I had to have a 5th grader explain a worksheet to me.)” —Early Education Teacher in Washington
      • “Great opportunity to have students teach you. I teach math 6-11 & often have students teach me to show they know or work through them to model trying different things &  if answers make sense. I use my fingers with high school students to show it’s okay! Don’t be embarrassed! Use whatever tools you’ve got & are comfy with.” —Math Teacher in Montana
      • “When I subbed in math classrooms, YouTube was my savior! This English major needed a quick demo of math before I was remotely confident about teaching students. With middle school & high school students, I had them work problems & explain to their peers. They taught me how they had been taught.” —Educator in Texas
      • “I think a lot of math peeps have gone to MTBoS on FB, mathstodon or elsewhere.” —Math Teacher in Montana