getting over math phobia

[badger]

oh, I love Danica McKellar and how she's trying to tackle this subject. I knew that she was a smart cookie and was a math major. I was really tempted to get her latest book after I saw her on a news program, but because of my learning style, I'm hesitant in getting it.

I love reading novels, but I hate reading books that give you directions. User manuals, forget it. I'm notorious for not reading manuals for things like cameras and other electronics.

This is why I would love to be in a class where it's shown in front of you, or you can freely ask someone how this is or why that is.

I have heard of new methods of teaching math where you access another part of the brain; I'd love to experience that. Conventional teaching methods certainly haven't done any wonders for me. It really didn't help when people like my mother would say "but it's so easy, how could you NOT get it?" comments like that really does hurt a child and I just believed I was too dumb to understand math.

I did sudoku for a good solid 2 years, but could never do the 5 star ones. I know it's not math, but it's logical thinking; I'm definitely not accessing the right parts of my brain.

Anyways, I'll look into some workbooks or those "brain-teaser" type books that I can write in. Anything to get my neurons fired up again.

[Crankin]

I think the right side of my brain is pretty much non-existent .
I can't do a puzzle with more than 4 pieces (like the pre-school kind) and I don't play board games or cards, either. You are right Badger; it's not math per se, it's logic/strategy. Even games where words are involved (Scrabble), if there's strategy, I fail dismally. And, I'm an excellent speller, with a good vocabulary. I can see the big picture when it's a social situation or feelings are involved, or how to plan a multi-step project involving many people, but not the big picture with right brain stuff.
The most math I ever learned was when i was co-teaching 7th grade math as an inclusion specialist. It was a regular class, with all levels of kids. The teacher, one of my teammates, explained things in a way that I finally learned it. Of course, it was all project based and hands-on. And she wisely forced me to take over the planning and teaching for weeks at a time, to raise my confidence. But, I was always feeling one step ahead of the kids.

[jacobadam]

Do you feel little frustrated when you think about doing maths homework? I have seen many students are fearing about their maths home work. You know by research confirms the pressure of timed test and risk of public embarrassment have been recognized as the source of major weakness of students. Students myths about maths in general that create mistaken ideas about how maths concepts and ideas fit into our world. By avoiding students maths fear we should provide the awareness for students about the simplicity of mathematics.

[grey]

Oy. Math. I'm like Muirenn. I was a science major, I love science, all science - but math??? Math made me have to change my major, and I so wish it could have been different.

For myself, I know it's psychological. I've kinda wished we could have a kid, so I can try again to learn alongside Junior, and create a positive, cooperative environment. I was yelled at, threatened, hit upside the head with the math book, spanked, and dragged out of my chair by my hair for not understanding algebra. My troubles started long before then, nobody was willing to sit with me and help me learn my multiplication tables. My mom just threatened to make me eat the cards if I didn't learn them, and then once I got to school the following Monday and I didn't pass the oral testing for it, I was made to sit alone in the classroom while all my classmates went to the next room to watch a movie as a reward/punishment. Even then, the teacher made to watch over me never offered to help me learn, she just acted grumpy and sat at her desk.

I was home schooled starting in 6th grade, and while I think everything else was great and I highly recommend home schooling, Mom is definitely not comfortable around math, was easily frustrated by it herself and probably should have just hired a tutor.

I still don't know all my multiplication tables. I created a few mental "cheats" that have let me get by through life. I got through College Algebra by the skin of my teeth - dropped out of it twice, and finally found a professor who said, if struggling students would come to his office during hours and honestly show him they were trying, he'd pass them with a "C".

One thing I discovered during that class - if I did not do the problems every day, and I do mean EVERY day, I couldn't remember them at all the day after. Not one bit. I'd look at the problems done, in my notebook, in my handwriting, and not recall a bit of it. It was the weirdest thing! So I learned in order to pass, I had to never miss a day.

However - I LOVE STATISTICS! First time I ever enjoyed "math" and was being asked to help several other students. I kept my class notes from that one for many many years.

Anyway, yes, if there were a way to learn math in a positive environment, then I'd be all for it!

[Bethany1]

You aren't dumb. I promise. It takes time for our brains to understand the concepts and work through the problems.

The way math is taught in schools is pathetic and unless you have a teacher that knows how to explain concepts you lose out. I look at my kids' mathbooks and even I don't get it. There are no explanations of how a problem is solved. They are supposed to get that in class. My kids have to go to the internet to do their homework. It makes me wonder why I pay taxes if my kids are getting a better education via the internet.

When I was in college there were 500 people in my math class. The first day the professor said that most of us would fail if we didn't get help. I almost raised my hand and asked, "Is that because you suck and have tenure?" If I'm almost guaranteed to fail, that's a sad way to teach students. My TA was from Denmark and you could barely understand what he said. The math book was useless. She was right. I failed.

You have something that most of didn't have growing up. The internet. I would have killed to have access to so much information while in school and the little bit of college I had. The math information out there is wonderful and I make my kids look up stuff they don't understand. Take advantage of it and work through the concepts you don't understand. The lightbulb will go on.

Math is a beautiful language. It explains the beauty of the universe from the smallest particles to the vastness of space. It gives order to everything that exists. Even music has math in it creating the melodies that we love.

I use math in my quilting and it helps explain different concepts that I didn't understand before. I can do fractions, add, multiply, figure out areas (how many 5 inch squares fit into a yard of fabric?) If I want to make a complex block via my software, I need math to do it. Designing a Mariner's Compass block takes a lot of geometry.

Look for something you can relate to, like I do in quilting. It will help so much. It's visual and I get automatic results.

[PscyclePath]

The way math is taught in schools is pathetic and unless you have a teacher that knows how to explain concepts you lose out. I look at my kids' mathbooks and even I don't get it. There are no explanations of how a problem is solved. They are supposed to get that in class. My kids have to go to the internet to do their homework. It makes me wonder why I pay taxes if my kids are getting a better education via the internet.

You have something that most of didn't have growing up. The internet. I would have killed to have access to so much information while in school and the little bit of college I had. The math information out there is wonderful and I make my kids look up stuff they don't understand. Take advantage of it and work through the concepts you don't understand. The lightbulb will go on.

I dodn't have the internet in grad school, either... it came along three or four years later ;-) But what I did find that I didn't have back in my undergraduate courses was a set of books, "The ______ Problem Solver" series, which covered p-chem, calculus, etc. They used a large example of common poblems and showed a step-by-step way to solve each one, with a nice bit of narration. I still have most of mine.

I didn't really appreciate math except as a way to get to a finite number until I took abstract algebra in my senior year. Probably the most useful (and still the most (and most favorably) remembered math class I took. I had a hard time with the abstract concepts of random X, Y, and Z representing some ill-defined quantities. But when I got into p-chem and those abstract variables turned into pressure, temperature, volume, and concentration, something I could clearly relate to, it all made a lot better sense and my ability to deal with it sharply improved. But I still remember in the first semester of p-chem, memorizing all the steps of a thermodynamic derivation the same way some people would memorize a poem, just so's I could scribble it all down on the Friday exams ;-)

[Owlie]

I didn't really appreciate math except as a way to get to a finite number until I took abstract algebra in my senior year. Probably the most useful (and still the most (and most favorably) remembered math class I took. I had a hard time with the abstract concepts of random X, Y, and Z representing some ill-defined quantities. But when I got into p-chem and those abstract variables turned into pressure, temperature, volume, and concentration, something I could clearly relate to, it all made a lot better sense and my ability to deal with it sharply improved. But I still remember in the first semester of p-chem, memorizing all the steps of a thermodynamic derivation the same way some people would memorize a poem, just so's I could scribble it all down on the Friday exams ;-)

Similar to my experience. Chemistry-math made far more sense to me than math-math, at least in part because there were units attached to most of these variables. Didn't really help me with p-chem 2, though.

[OakLeaf]

That's funny, because I had the exact opposite experience.

By now I've forgotten 95% of the math I ever learned, but as a very abstract thinker, what I do remember is sailing through multivariate calculus while the engineering students struggled to visualize six dimensions.

[Veronica]

The way math is taught in schools is pathetic and unless you have a teacher that knows how to explain concepts you lose out. I look at my kids' mathbooks and even I don't get it. There are no explanations of how a problem is solved. They are supposed to get that in class.

That assumes they are doing the students' job of paying attention and writing down the examples covered in class. That they are asking for clarification when they don't understand. Teachers are not mind readers.

Do you have any idea how many students come to me not knowing basic math facts? I'm talking simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The sort of stuff that you're suppose to drill until you know it. Trouble is, there are some kids who need more drill then can be provided in class time. They don't get drilled at home, so by the time they get to me at 5th grade, they're still counting on their fingers. They are so caught up in acquiring the basics, that they can't get the more abstract concepts that we're starting in 5th grade.

I have kids who don't understand why we call a quarter, a quarter. I am constantly astounded by the lack of background knowledge my students possess. They no longer know how to read a regular clock, so talking about a quarter of an hour, is a totally foreign concept. Students who have never realized that .o1 is like a penny and .10 is like a dime, so of course they are not the same thing.

I've spent this week in class myself, taking a class on teaching problem solving to students - yeah 37 hours on how to teach problem solving to kids, when I should still be on vacation. The hardest thing about problem solving, is that students just want the answer - they don't care about the process. And they want the answer now. They don't want to persevere. "Let's just look up the answer on the Internet."

Don't tell me that the job we do is pathetic. Most of us are pretty passionate and concerned about what is going on in our classrooms. We are after all paid such an exorbitant amount of money for what we do. And if you think it's an easy, cushy job, go do it yourself. I've spent on average two hours of every day of my vacation working on stuff for the upcoming academic year. I spend about 3,000 dollars of my own money on things for my classroom every year. And no, I don't get reimbursed and I don't claim it as charitable donation on my taxes.

It's so easy to say that education is failing our children. But it's not education - it's all the other stuff that's happening in their lives, or not happening when it should be.

Veronica

[Crankin]

+ a zillion.

I am dreading September, when I have to go meet the school staff who work with my counseling clients. I am so afraid they will think I don't understand what they are faced with. These kids come from such unimaginable situations, I don't think the average person has any idea what these kids are up against.

[WindingRoad]

Don't hate math, without it we would have no kick butt geometry bike frames and we'd all be riding fixies forever

Seriously though, you don't have to be a 'natural' to get it. The best way for me is repetition. A tutor can also be a huge help for some but if you learn in very non traditional ways like I do that sometimes can be tough. I found that I have a VERY unique way of getting my mathematical answers and that though it may not have been easiest way of doing it for me it was the most logical.

[Owlie]

That assumes they are doing the students' job of paying attention and writing down the examples covered in class. That they are asking for clarification when they don't understand. Teachers are not mind readers.

Do you have any idea how many students come to me not knowing basic math facts? I'm talking simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The sort of stuff that you're suppose to drill until you know it. Trouble is, there are some kids who need more drill then can be provided in class time. They don't get drilled at home, so by the time they get to me at 5th grade, they're still counting on their fingers. They are so caught up in acquiring the basics, that they can't get the more abstract concepts that we're starting in 5th grade.

I have kids who don't understand why we call a quarter, a quarter. I am constantly astounded by the lack of background knowledge my students possess. They no longer know how to read a regular clock, so talking about a quarter of an hour, is a totally foreign concept. Students who have never realized that .o1 is like a penny and .10 is like a dime, so of course they are not the same thing.

I've spent this week in class myself, taking a class on teaching problem solving to students - yeah 37 hours on how to teach problem solving to kids, when I should still be on vacation. The hardest thing about problem solving, is that students just want the answer - they don't care about the process. And they want the answer now. They don't want to persevere. "Let's just look up the answer on the Internet."

Don't tell me that the job we do is pathetic. Most of us are pretty passionate and concerned about what is going on in our classrooms. We are after all paid such an exorbitant amount of money for what we do. And if you think it's an easy, cushy job, go do it yourself. I've spent on average two hours of every day of my vacation working on stuff for the upcoming academic year. I spend about 3,000 dollars of my own money on things for my classroom every year. And no, I don't get reimbursed and I don't claim it as charitable donation on my taxes.

It's so easy to say that education is failing our children. But it's not education - it's all the other stuff that's happening in their lives, or not happening when it should be.

Veronica

+1 more. I have had bad teachers (my pre-calc teacher in high school was far more interested in coaching soccer than explaining trig ) but they are certainly not representative. I wish it had occurred to me to ask my teachers how to solve something more complicated than the textbook examples, which I could figure out on my own. Anything much beyond that, I was totally lost.
I love the process of math when it works for me. It just takes me a lot of time and repetition to actually get the process and be able to apply it!

And V--"Just give me the answer" doesn't disappear. If I had a nickel for every time one of my pre-med acquaintances would cheat on o-chem homework (or tests!), or would whine when the answers for GENERAL chemistry homework/tests weren't immediately obvious and solvable with rote formula use, I'd have no trouble paying for grad school. I don't know that it was laziness. More likely that "I want the answer so I can get a good grade in this class so I can get into med school." Of course, it means they get out of the habit of looking for answers themselves. Do they expect their patients to come in with a diagnosis in hand?

[eofelis]

I started in college in my 30s going into a hard science major. My math skills were not only poor, they were non-existant. I'd never taken even an algebra class in HS.

I started college in pre-algebra (basic arithmetic). I was not the only one. The class was packed full. I worked my way up through Beginning Algebra, Int Algebra, College Algebra, Trig, Pre-Calc, Calc I & Calc II. I did well, mostly A's, but I still don't feel like a mathy person.

You can do it.