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> far outside what they see in school There's so much cool mathematics out there that school kids can understand given a good enough teacher. It's really disa

> far outside what they see in school There's so much cool mathematics out there that school kids can understand given a good enough teacher. It's really disappointing to me the crud that gets taught in school, but then i remember that a big part of this is the teachers just aren't that inspired. All it takes is one or two good teachers to really change a kids outlook on mathematics.

briandear 9y ago
You also have the problem (at least in public schools,) that teachers are obliged to “stick to the curriculum” and much of a teacher’s time is spent catering to the lowest common denominator lest the test scores fall to an unacceptable level. I might argue that kids should get a double period for math, especially earlier in their school careers — one class to teach the fundamentals, another class to simply explore. The benefit being that critical thinking is enhanced in all academic areas and not just the obvious in mathematics.
- mathgenius 9y ago
  I hated learning the multiplication table when I was 5. Basically, I boycotted the whole thing. It occured to me recently, why don't they talk about the holes in the multiplication table? These are the prime numbers! So easy to mention this and may have inspired my 5 year old self to dig a bit deeper. My first real mathematical experience was in second grade. My teacher had some hoops on the floor, and was putting coloured shapes inside. Red shapes in one hoop, and triangles in another hoop. But then the problem arose: what to do with the red triangles? It was total magic when she dragged one hoop to overlap with another hoop and placed the red triangle in the overlap. Venn diagrams for six year olds. And I still can't multiply six times eight! I have to work it out every time...
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > It occured to me recently, why don't they talk about the holes in the multiplication table? Because there aren't any. The prime numbers would be gaps if you pivoted the table into a division table but, alas, that's not how it's presented (even in the context of teaching division.)
  - vog 9y ago
    > And I still can't multiply six times eight! I have to work it out every time... No offense intended, but if that still bothers you, it's time to learn it. Either by accepting the offer you got with 5 (that is, memorizing the multiplication table - BTW, it is more fun to do this with 15x15 or 20x20 rather than 10x10). Or by playing mental calculation games and trying to get high scores in speed. (Essentially, this is the same as with learning vocabularies for a foreign language. The word "4x3" is translated to the other word "12".) Maybe your teachers failed to make it interesting to your 5-year-old self. But your current self does seem to be interested, so that can't be the issue anymore. You can critize your teachers that they didn't make your learn it at 5, but you can't critize them for still not having it learned later as an adult.

briandear 9y ago

You also have the problem (at least in public schools,) that teachers are obliged to “stick to the curriculum” and much of a teacher’s time is spent catering to the lowest common denominator lest the test scores fall to an unacceptable level. I might argue that kids should get a double period for math, especially earlier in their school careers — one class to teach the fundamentals, another class to simply explore. The benefit being that critical thinking is enhanced in all academic areas and not just the obvious in mathematics.

mathgenius 9y ago
I hated learning the multiplication table when I was 5. Basically, I boycotted the whole thing. It occured to me recently, why don't they talk about the holes in the multiplication table? These are the prime numbers! So easy to mention this and may have inspired my 5 year old self to dig a bit deeper. My first real mathematical experience was in second grade. My teacher had some hoops on the floor, and was putting coloured shapes inside. Red shapes in one hoop, and triangles in another hoop. But then the problem arose: what to do with the red triangles? It was total magic when she dragged one hoop to overlap with another hoop and placed the red triangle in the overlap. Venn diagrams for six year olds. And I still can't multiply six times eight! I have to work it out every time...
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > It occured to me recently, why don't they talk about the holes in the multiplication table? Because there aren't any. The prime numbers would be gaps if you pivoted the table into a division table but, alas, that's not how it's presented (even in the context of teaching division.)
- vog 9y ago
  > And I still can't multiply six times eight! I have to work it out every time... No offense intended, but if that still bothers you, it's time to learn it. Either by accepting the offer you got with 5 (that is, memorizing the multiplication table - BTW, it is more fun to do this with 15x15 or 20x20 rather than 10x10). Or by playing mental calculation games and trying to get high scores in speed. (Essentially, this is the same as with learning vocabularies for a foreign language. The word "4x3" is translated to the other word "12".) Maybe your teachers failed to make it interesting to your 5-year-old self. But your current self does seem to be interested, so that can't be the issue anymore. You can critize your teachers that they didn't make your learn it at 5, but you can't critize them for still not having it learned later as an adult.