4 ms·

>Give me a motivated adult who understands basic arithmetic, and I can help him or her master algebra in six to eight weeks. We can go from zero to FOIL, and qu

>Give me a motivated adult who understands basic arithmetic, and I can help him or her master algebra in six to eight weeks. We can go from zero to FOIL, and quadratic to partial fraction decomposition in that amount of time. The key is to listen and to instill a level of confidence as early as possible in this process. Many adults consider math to be "hard" -- not from the perspective of it actually being hard, which it is -- but from the perspective of "this is too hard for me to do, because I'm not a math person." Break this mental block, and anyone can do algebra. I used to believe this until I actually tried. Maybe they lied about how much studying they really did, but I've seen people putting in many hours a week and still unable to grasp the basics of algebra. I think many of us have never really been exposed to the thinking power of people at the bottom 10-20% (IQs below 80-87) , they weren't in our classes in high school. And now these people are going to college.

nanolith 9y ago
I've tutored students in algebra and remedial math in the past. I agree that it is more challenging to work with adults on the lower end of the intelligence curve, but even these adults can be taught enough algebra to pass the final exam. Different teaching techniques are required for different students. For the students at the upper edge of the curve, the homework assignments and lectures are more than enough. For the students near the middle of the curve, some additional exercises and confidence building may be required. For students near the bottom of the curve, it will be necessary to break problems into parts and reinforce smaller parts before building back up to the overall problems. These students must be taught how to break problems into discrete steps, and a lot of emphasis needs to be placed in teaching them how to recognize the patterns. Mnemonics, rhymes, and other catchy phrases can help to reinforce both the pattern recognition and the execution of steps. Bear in mind that we can teach computers to perform algebra. There is a heuristic involved. This heuristic can be memorized by anyone who can memorize a bible verse, a song, or a poem. You would be surprised what someone with a low IQ can do when time is spent to organize a heuristic in terms that this person can memorize, and enough time is spent to reinforce both this learning and the confidence of this individual.
dvfjsdhgfv 9y ago
I'd say say the truth is somewhere in between. There are many people who think math is hard, but they can be taught quite easily with a skillful teacher if they're motivated. However, there is a group of people who simply can't grasp it. No matter how you explain, they stare blankly at you and say they don't understand. It looks like they know what you mean if you use a simple example "You have 3 apples but want to have 13 apples; how many are you missing", but make it just a bit harder and you get back to square one. It's just a kind of people. They're otherwise nice to get along with, they seem to understand many things about life in general etc., it's just this aspect that is somewhat blocked. I hope one day we discover a safe way to somewhat activate the neurons in the related area of the brain to break this barrier.

nanolith 9y ago

I've tutored students in algebra and remedial math in the past. I agree that it is more challenging to work with adults on the lower end of the intelligence curve, but even these adults can be taught enough algebra to pass the final exam. Different teaching techniques are required for different students. For the students at the upper edge of the curve, the homework assignments and lectures are more than enough. For the students near the middle of the curve, some additional exercises and confidence building may be required. For students near the bottom of the curve, it will be necessary to break problems into parts and reinforce smaller parts before building back up to the overall problems. These students must be taught how to break problems into discrete steps, and a lot of emphasis needs to be placed in teaching them how to recognize the patterns. Mnemonics, rhymes, and other catchy phrases can help to reinforce both the pattern recognition and the execution of steps. Bear in mind that we can teach computers to perform algebra. There is a heuristic involved. This heuristic can be memorized by anyone who can memorize a bible verse, a song, or a poem. You would be surprised what someone with a low IQ can do when time is spent to organize a heuristic in terms that this person can memorize, and enough time is spent to reinforce both this learning and the confidence of this individual.

dvfjsdhgfv 9y ago

I'd say say the truth is somewhere in between. There are many people who think math is hard, but they can be taught quite easily with a skillful teacher if they're motivated. However, there is a group of people who simply can't grasp it. No matter how you explain, they stare blankly at you and say they don't understand. It looks like they know what you mean if you use a simple example "You have 3 apples but want to have 13 apples; how many are you missing", but make it just a bit harder and you get back to square one. It's just a kind of people. They're otherwise nice to get along with, they seem to understand many things about life in general etc., it's just this aspect that is somewhat blocked. I hope one day we discover a safe way to somewhat activate the neurons in the related area of the brain to break this barrier.