3 ms·

As someone who wasn't that good at math, I think the convention of x and y feels pretty abstract and arbitrary. Bad students have trouble connecting real world

As someone who wasn't that good at math, I think the convention of x and y feels pretty abstract and arbitrary. Bad students have trouble connecting real world quantities to single letter variables. Lengthier and meaningful variable names will make the task slightly easier, as carSpeed is easier to reason about than x or y. Once students grasp the concept of a variable, the names can be switched. Just my 2 cents.

username90 5y ago
Why do you assume that students know what speed is? Have you seen this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhm7-LEBznk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhm7-LEBznk The problem here is that she don't know what speed is. She knows a lot of formulas, but not what speed actually is. That is a typical student, if you add speed in a formula you will make them confused and the problem will get harder.
- hdctambien 5y ago
  My first year teaching math (12th grade, "standard" level (below "intensive" and "honors")), I had a student that could solve "equations with fractions for x" but she was struggling with a word problem. I knew she could do the math, but I was struggling to understand where she was losing it. The word problem was basically the same as in the video. If you're moving 20 miles/hour how long will it take to go 40 miles. (honestly, this was 20 years ago ... the problem probably said "20 MPH" ... it wasn't a very good textbook) I read the problem to her, similarly to how the guy in the video was trying to explain. "If you are going 20 miles... per hour..." She was in drivers ed at the time, so I tried talking about her speedometer and "MPH and how that stands for Miles Per Hour"... Eventually I wrote it down for her as a fraction "20 miles / 1 hour" and not only did she figure it out but she also said "Oh my god, that's what MPH means? I thought that was just a number I had to match with the speed limit signs!" One of the toughest parts of teaching is figuring out where you need to start (for each student). The thing that gets a student stuck might not even be related to the material... they may have an incorrect preconceived notion that you're not aware of so they think they know what MPH is, but it's actually something completely different, so you are not effectively communicating with each other because all the words you are using have different meanings.
  - thelittleprince 5y ago
    Well, I think the author got a point here. There is no perfect solution for this problem, yes. Maybe for this student, this way works, but not for others. What I am saying is First, if student don't even understand what is carAccerleration or carSpeed is, then how do you expect them to understand the X and Y term? Second, to explain an example, you may not use carSpeed or anything related to it at all, but why use X and Y while there are so many better names out there. It really depends on the context of the example trying to show. So my point is using carSpeed or carAccerlation as programming naming technique bad? Yes, it's bad. But using greek terms to show a student who are really bad at understanding things comes even worse. How we can explain them what is alpha, what is beta, etc I am not an official teacher at any school, but I volunteered to an educational organization to teach students about science experiments. The odd is there is a huge gap in knowledge in ONE class, students range from 6th grade to 9th grade. Student of 6th grade in class don't even know what is physics and chemistry (all stuffs they know is adding and substracting). My job is explaining to them what electromagnetic field is and how the tesla coil works. That's come to my point, you can't just throw to them a bunch of equations and tell them it is it. I had to solve this by breaking the term down into smaller pieces and didn't talk about any equations at all. After that, could I expect them know how to solve physics problems? Of course, it's not. But at least they had a push, and if you want someone to move forward, a small push is what they need (Newton's first law related). That is the 'A-hah' moment. One more point, if you have read 'A Brief History of Time' of Stephen Hawking, you'll see he barely used any complicated terms or equations in his book (he did use, but not much), he just explain things and break it down into small pieces so even non-physiscal peoples will understand. And in conclude, if it's for generalize things, then an equation with greek terms is needed. However, to explain things to student who are bad at math and really need help, there is so many better ways to name terms in math examples instead of using greek letters.

username90 5y ago

Why do you assume that students know what speed is? Have you seen this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhm7-LEBznk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhm7-LEBznk The problem here is that she don't know what speed is. She knows a lot of formulas, but not what speed actually is. That is a typical student, if you add speed in a formula you will make them confused and the problem will get harder.

hdctambien 5y ago
My first year teaching math (12th grade, "standard" level (below "intensive" and "honors")), I had a student that could solve "equations with fractions for x" but she was struggling with a word problem. I knew she could do the math, but I was struggling to understand where she was losing it. The word problem was basically the same as in the video. If you're moving 20 miles/hour how long will it take to go 40 miles. (honestly, this was 20 years ago ... the problem probably said "20 MPH" ... it wasn't a very good textbook) I read the problem to her, similarly to how the guy in the video was trying to explain. "If you are going 20 miles... per hour..." She was in drivers ed at the time, so I tried talking about her speedometer and "MPH and how that stands for Miles Per Hour"... Eventually I wrote it down for her as a fraction "20 miles / 1 hour" and not only did she figure it out but she also said "Oh my god, that's what MPH means? I thought that was just a number I had to match with the speed limit signs!" One of the toughest parts of teaching is figuring out where you need to start (for each student). The thing that gets a student stuck might not even be related to the material... they may have an incorrect preconceived notion that you're not aware of so they think they know what MPH is, but it's actually something completely different, so you are not effectively communicating with each other because all the words you are using have different meanings.
- thelittleprince 5y ago
  Well, I think the author got a point here. There is no perfect solution for this problem, yes. Maybe for this student, this way works, but not for others. What I am saying is First, if student don't even understand what is carAccerleration or carSpeed is, then how do you expect them to understand the X and Y term? Second, to explain an example, you may not use carSpeed or anything related to it at all, but why use X and Y while there are so many better names out there. It really depends on the context of the example trying to show. So my point is using carSpeed or carAccerlation as programming naming technique bad? Yes, it's bad. But using greek terms to show a student who are really bad at understanding things comes even worse. How we can explain them what is alpha, what is beta, etc I am not an official teacher at any school, but I volunteered to an educational organization to teach students about science experiments. The odd is there is a huge gap in knowledge in ONE class, students range from 6th grade to 9th grade. Student of 6th grade in class don't even know what is physics and chemistry (all stuffs they know is adding and substracting). My job is explaining to them what electromagnetic field is and how the tesla coil works. That's come to my point, you can't just throw to them a bunch of equations and tell them it is it. I had to solve this by breaking the term down into smaller pieces and didn't talk about any equations at all. After that, could I expect them know how to solve physics problems? Of course, it's not. But at least they had a push, and if you want someone to move forward, a small push is what they need (Newton's first law related). That is the 'A-hah' moment. One more point, if you have read 'A Brief History of Time' of Stephen Hawking, you'll see he barely used any complicated terms or equations in his book (he did use, but not much), he just explain things and break it down into small pieces so even non-physiscal peoples will understand. And in conclude, if it's for generalize things, then an equation with greek terms is needed. However, to explain things to student who are bad at math and really need help, there is so many better ways to name terms in math examples instead of using greek letters.