Thread: Why is math hard?

Originally Posted by Bitsy Griffin

I'd like to see young elementary not ever put pen to paper, but instead work with manipulatives. If I have 20 blocks and divide it into three equal groups, what happens? What can we call the left overs? What do you do in real life that is like this?

In my kindergarten class, I do as much as I can with manipulatives. Two weeks ago at the conferences, many of the parents asked me why I don't send the worksheets home. I said, "what worksheets?" Many of them have asked me to give them worksheets so their child can practise at home and again, I say, "what worksheets?" I've explained (and explained and explained) that their children can practise math at home with games like Snakes and Ladders (in my opinion, one of the best games ever invented for young children) or have their child sort and count the knives and forks or estimate and count some beans or play games with beans or add the plates and glasses. "But that's not real math," they say.

sigh

Maybe that's why math is considered hard. It hasn't been related to real life from a young age. Maybe it was all those drill and kill worksheets that we had to slog through in school.

Patricia

Originally Posted by GreenBunny

[Two weeks ago at the conferences, many of the parents asked me why I don't send the worksheets home. I said, "what worksheets?" . . . "But that's not real math," they say.

Well, we certainly do drill and kill the joy out of many things in school, don't we? Awfully discouraging that the very thing parents demand is the thing that takes the joy out of learning -- and that's the very thing they complain about an subsequent years.

*big deep heavy sigh*

I have struggled with math since 4th grade when we started learning long division. I really think that it is my weakness because for instance this quater I am taking two history classes and an english class and I'm doing great. I had to drop my math class because I was doing so bad but the thing is it was my second time to take the class because I wanted to get a better grade. Wouldn't you think it would be easier the second time around? There was no graded homework for the class but I did all the homework for each section and checked it with the book supplement. I rarely missed a problem but this guys tests were AWFUL!!! I think this just shows that it depends on the teacher. If I hadn't had the class before I wouldn't have understood what he was talking about because he didn't explain things well. But other students in the class seemed to understand where he was coming from.

Another point about math is that I know that my brain was not always developed enough to understand the concepts. In middle school I remember coming home and my dad would sit down with me and help me for what seemed like hours on how to do fractions. I would still do horrible. At the time I didn't understand fractions but now it's no problem for me.

I've been on both sides of the spectrum here. You see, up until college math was a cake walk for me, I loved it. When I finally got to college, I decided to major in chemistry (that lasted until my junior year) and so there was a ton of math I had to take. I barely passed calc 3 and then I flat out failed Differential Equations. It had just gotten so hard, I didn't understand it at all. And I think some of the things people have said, like the lack of authentic tasks and the abstractness of the whole, lead to me failing that. Before in high school, I was a "math person" but by the time I got to Calc 3, it was just too hard a class (not to mention being in a university that was known for schience and math). Anyway, there's my $0.02

I am struggling so bad in my MAT 102 class. The class is intermediate algebra, which sounds pretty easy. It probably should be really easy, but my brain is just not understanding anything! This is the second college level class offered at my school (a local community college) and I passed the first one with a C and now in MAT 102 I have a solid F. I'm really stressing out here!

May I recommend hiring a math tutor?

Many don't realize how much money they are throwing away when they take a course, fail it, and take it again when they could have hired a personal tutor for a fraction of the cost. The benefits include (but are certainly not limited to) passing the class (saving time and money), gaining a better understanding of the material (better prepared for the next class), and not "letting go" all the why's that plague the average math student.

The gain is significantly greater than the potential loss.

Another word of advice.... Don't EVER register for a math course that meets only once a week (three hour math class is NOT equal to three one hour math classes or two hour and half classes), as long as you find math difficult, don't take math during the shorter summer sessions (or flex classes), and when you are taking a math class, form a study group on day one and weed out members who complain constantly as necessary.

Best of luck and I hope this helped!

Thanks! I took this course because it meets the full 9 weeks like the classes do the rest of the year and it is every day. I go to a math tutor in the mornings before class, but recently I have been sleeping in. ops: I'm lucky that my school has free tutorial services and they are very helpful but its still hard for me. It's just a struggle when you are juggling school and two jobs I guess. I just need to stay motivated and get up early and see my tutor!

9 weeks???? College semesters were 15 weeks when I was in school!

Good luck. Definately get up to go see your tutor. I can relate to working two jobs and going to school. I did it for the last 5 semesters. Not easy, and I have no clue how I did it, but I did survive and I'm probably stronger because of it!

I'm amazed at how many people are saying math is hard. I did the majority of my schooling in Australia. Primary (junior) math involved playing with blocks of ones, tens, hundreds and thousands (the thousand CM3 block really hurt if you threw it) and numbers were fun. Once we realised it was math it got a bit dull. There was a little bit of memorizing stuff but the early block work in k-3 made the length x bredth x height make sense in grade 4-7. The only problem I had was when I got to high school and could remember all the concepts and none of the rules and got marked down for using X + Y = Z instead of A + B = C because I'd been taught the mathamatical equivilant of "whole language".

That is just one person's experience but it might help to have another perspective.