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The process of learning a math concept is often a step-like function. Unlike in other subjects, it can be hard to learn math concepts in small useful steps, and
by leot 15y ago
The process of learning a math concept is often a step-like function. Unlike in other subjects, it can be hard to learn math concepts in small useful steps, and when it comes time to solve a problem, it's hard to fool oneself into believing that one understands a concept when one doesn't.
People often hate ego-damaging objective evaluations of their performance, and math is full of them. Learning math is, almost by necessity, a humbling experience (it's always possible to come up with more difficult math questions).
So a first step to the successful teaching of math is to teach patience, persistence, humility, a sense of what it "feels like" to learn a difficult concept, and a certain comfort with not-yet-understanding.
- leot 15y agoPer others' comments: adopting a "game" frame of mind can be a useful way of adopting the patience (etc.) required for learning math (and, indeed, accomplishing any number of difficult tasks).
- unabridged 15y agoExactly, this is why math draws in people who thrive in the face of intellectual challenge. People who's first reaction to a difficult problem is to spend hours dissecting it to understand how it works and find a solution are the ones that tend to like math. People who react by getting frustrated, dread going to math class and spend their lives trying to avoid it.