What started as the seed of an idea has bloomed into a brand new course at Otago Girls' High School.
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Let me say that again – maths is NOT DIFFICULT. Maths can be hard – that is hard work. It takes time, patience and effort. But maths is not difficult. Maths is also not “ritual magic” ( Occupy Maths Blog ) I find joy in the patterns generated by numbers, algebra, statistics and geometry – it even generates art I find amazing. And it makes sense with the musical and creative (knitting) part of me. |
This tends to hold girls back more than boys. So it limits life options for girls much more than boys.
It limits career options, ability to take part in any debate where arguments are based on numerical data, and ability to make decisions about money. In short, it limits your ability to play your part as a citizen.
Basic competence in maths should be a human right and is definitely a life skill.
Never admit to being "bad at maths" |
Everyone can do their bit.
Here’s a list if you want to take part:
- NEVER admit to being “bad at maths”. Especially within the hearing of children. It gives them an excuse to not try.
- Feel free to admit that maths is hard (work) but it’s not difficult, and it’s worth it.
- Feel free to congratulate those that calculate discounts, their share of the café bill in their head as smart, not nerds.
- Encourage your children to “play” with numbers. (I have ideas if you want some).
- Encourage your children to explain their thinking as they complete maths problems at home. Your way and their way may be different – that’s ok, you can learn from each other.
- Encourage those who haven’t got there yet, that they can succeed with effort, time and patience.
For those who have taught maths (or any subject), we have seen the following pattern repeat itself:
- Different kids with different levels of preparation come into a maths (or any subject) class. Some of these kids have parents who have drilled them on maths (or any subject) from a young age, while others never had that kind of parental input.
- On the first few tests, the well-prepared kids get perfect scores, while the unprepared kids get only what they could figure out by winging it—maybe 80 or 85%, a solid B.
- The unprepared kids, not realizing that the top scorers were well-prepared, assume that genetic ability was what determined the performance differences. Deciding that they “just aren’t maths (or any subject) people,” they don’t try hard in future classes, and fall further behind.
- The well-prepared kids, not realizing that the B students were simply unprepared, assume that they are “maths (or any subject) people,” and work hard in the future, cementing their advantage.
Another Thing?
It’s an all too familiar story. Just when you think you’ve settled into this new routine, you’ve figured out the baby’s sleep patterns, you’ve adjusted to the new expectations… bam! They hit you with another change!! And so it all begins again.
So what makes us so resistant to these changes? I don’t think age = cynicism quite covers all the bases. But I do think that there is a sense of ‘having been round this mountain before’. This new innovation that will supposedly revolutionise our lives is really just a rebranding of something we’ve seen before, right?
Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
We’ve all seen Ken Robinson’s Ted Talk and we know that the current education system is struggling to keep up with world changes that are more rapid than the human race has ever experienced before. As educators, we know how vital our role is in preparing young people for this world. | |
Resist Change or Drive it?
I think the answer lies in our sense of what is being changed. Everyday we are in the classroom with our students doing our subject area (I don’t say teaching because on any given day we could be facilitating all sorts of learning experiences). We know them. We know what they enjoy, we know what music they listen to, we know when they are engaged. And we know when we need to make changes to adapt to the needs of our students.
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
![Picture](/uploads/7/1/9/3/7193937/published/design-thinking-doodle.jpg?1489609063)
So, sick of change?
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
Authors
We'll have a variety of authors from OGHS over the year sharing their thoughts and experiences about education, teaching and learning
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