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Here is TEDx talk, "Why Math Education is Unnecessary", by a math teacher arguing that compulsory math classes should be replaced with voluntary math-based game

Here is TEDx talk, "Why Math Education is Unnecessary", by a math teacher arguing that compulsory math classes should be replaced with voluntary math-based games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyowJZxrtbg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyowJZxrtbg Here is an essay by a mathematician, A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart (2002), arguing that math education is completely stupid, like teaching art only through paint-by-number exercises, and should be replaced by play: https://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf https://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/LockhartsLament.... And here is a short video of a democratic free school, Sudbury Valley School, where kids play freely all day long and learn math through video games, card games, and voluntary study: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awOAmTaZ4XI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awOAmTaZ4XI

sgustard 12y ago
Music is taught by the equivalent of paint by number, which is reading sheet music. Or play, which is improvisation. There's room for both.
- j2kun 12y ago
  I agree, but I think the amount of "paint by number" in mathematics should be minimized, and most of it (learning multiplication tables, isolating variables in simple equations) is already in the form of games. I'd be interested to hear of a topic in math that you would argue can't be turned into a non-superficial game.
- quadrangle 12y ago
  Music as paint-by-number is one of the worst failings of music education. The most robust and life-long music in the world is in cultures that actually use notation only as appropriate if at all and don't think of it as the music. Most of the world's music is not so notation-focused.
  - rquantz 12y ago
    I don't think this is the fault of music notation. Prior to widespread availabity of recorded music, playing music from sheet music was a common activity in the West. If anything, I would say the death of lifelong musical performance is more the result of recording -- "this disc here is the music" rather than "this sheet music is the music" -- the sheet music still needs a performer.
webnrrd2k 12y ago
This is a little off-topic, I know, but I'd really appreciate some suggestions for good math-based games for my kids, ages 7 and 10. So does anyone have good math games to suggest?
- kaj_sotala 12y ago
  DragonBox ( http://www.dragonboxapp.com/ http://www.dragonboxapp.com/ ) is fantastic. I have literally seen elementary school kids argue over who gets to be the next one to solve equations playing it. If you have an iOS or Android tablet, they also have a new game called DragonBox Elements up that teaches geometry. After playing it for a while, I'd see triangles everywhere. If DragonBox gets them hooked on algebra, another fun algebra game is Algeburst (currently only available for iOS platforms AFAIK), which employs a basic get-three-of-the-same-color-in-a-row mechanic, but requiring you to interpret simple algebraic expressions in order to figure out which tiles are of which color. E.g. if there's a tile called 3X + 2X, you can recognize it as being a 5X tile and give it whatever color 5X tiles happen to have on that particular level. (I was only going to try this game to see whether it was any good, but then ended up losing several hours to it.) They also have a "topics in arithmetic" version which doesn't have algebra but rather focuses on basic arithmetic. 10 might be getting a little old for it, and it teaches the basics of programming not math, but in general I would also recommend the Robot Turtles board game. On the topic of games teaching programming, I've also heard good things about the CodeSpells computer game, in which you're exploring a world and can cast spells by writing Java code, but I haven't tried it myself.
betaclass 12y ago
Well, I find Dad Meyer's talk to be helpful in thinking about math school education: https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_meyer_math_curriculum_makeover https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_meyer_math_curriculum_makeover .

sgustard 12y ago

Music is taught by the equivalent of paint by number, which is reading sheet music. Or play, which is improvisation. There's room for both.

j2kun 12y ago
I agree, but I think the amount of "paint by number" in mathematics should be minimized, and most of it (learning multiplication tables, isolating variables in simple equations) is already in the form of games. I'd be interested to hear of a topic in math that you would argue can't be turned into a non-superficial game.
quadrangle 12y ago
Music as paint-by-number is one of the worst failings of music education. The most robust and life-long music in the world is in cultures that actually use notation only as appropriate if at all and don't think of it as the music. Most of the world's music is not so notation-focused.
- rquantz 12y ago
  I don't think this is the fault of music notation. Prior to widespread availabity of recorded music, playing music from sheet music was a common activity in the West. If anything, I would say the death of lifelong musical performance is more the result of recording -- "this disc here is the music" rather than "this sheet music is the music" -- the sheet music still needs a performer.

webnrrd2k 12y ago

This is a little off-topic, I know, but I'd really appreciate some suggestions for good math-based games for my kids, ages 7 and 10. So does anyone have good math games to suggest?

kaj_sotala 12y ago
DragonBox ( http://www.dragonboxapp.com/ http://www.dragonboxapp.com/ ) is fantastic. I have literally seen elementary school kids argue over who gets to be the next one to solve equations playing it. If you have an iOS or Android tablet, they also have a new game called DragonBox Elements up that teaches geometry. After playing it for a while, I'd see triangles everywhere. If DragonBox gets them hooked on algebra, another fun algebra game is Algeburst (currently only available for iOS platforms AFAIK), which employs a basic get-three-of-the-same-color-in-a-row mechanic, but requiring you to interpret simple algebraic expressions in order to figure out which tiles are of which color. E.g. if there's a tile called 3X + 2X, you can recognize it as being a 5X tile and give it whatever color 5X tiles happen to have on that particular level. (I was only going to try this game to see whether it was any good, but then ended up losing several hours to it.) They also have a "topics in arithmetic" version which doesn't have algebra but rather focuses on basic arithmetic. 10 might be getting a little old for it, and it teaches the basics of programming not math, but in general I would also recommend the Robot Turtles board game. On the topic of games teaching programming, I've also heard good things about the CodeSpells computer game, in which you're exploring a world and can cast spells by writing Java code, but I haven't tried it myself.

betaclass 12y ago

Well, I find Dad Meyer's talk to be helpful in thinking about math school education: https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_meyer_math_curriculum_makeover https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_meyer_math_curriculum_makeover .