maybe some of this < http://mathspig.wordpress.com/category/lists/10-biggest-mathematical-disasters-in-the-world-lists/ > should be included in the curriculum - effect of fairly basic math (in most cases) mistakes with disasterous consequences. If you cannot relate to it, what can you relate to?

 

Schools don't teach anything, teachers 'teach'

The human element, yeay!

It was also said you will (can) learn as much from your peers as from the teacher. there is a deal of truth in this.

The best teacher I ever had was my A level Maths teacher.

He didn't use a textbook for teaching he did it all himself.

In the middle of each week he presented (wrote on the board) some theory, which we copied down as our notes.

We then, as a class, worked some examples, with him prompting as necessary.

At the end of the week he set homework by picking set questions from the textbook.

Ladies and gentlemen you will find the answers to the questions at the end of the book. You may think this makes it simple but it will make you work harder.

Yes, indeed what else do you do if you get to your answer and it does not tally with the book's?

At the beginnning of the next week we would work through the homework questions as a class.
He would stand there, chalk in hand, and pick on someone to start - joe what is the first line? - then someone else to carry on and so on. If joe or whoever got it wrong, it was often the class who called out the correction.
This would continue till we had dispatched last week's homework.

 

I agree, it's probably the human element which is the best. Sometimes, because books can't show tricks so well, you are taught something correctly, but in a boring and sterile manner (lists of algebra/circuits/code/whatever, so it just doesn't stick. If you're sitting in a class with a good teacher, he/she can show you quick tricks and liven things up.

My best maths teacher doesn't bother with some of the 'fluff' in maths - he'll just put it across in an easy to understand manner. Also perfectly timed sighs of sarcastic annoyance help to make the whole process of learning fun.

I believe that the best way to learn is to have fun and to be relaxed.

 

I have a book on a similar topic. Quite interesting book
http://www.springer.com/education+&+language/mathematics+education/book/978-1-4419-7706-9

 

I have been watching this thread and I’m going to weigh in from one teacher’s point of view on this query. For me to teach, I need not so much textbook resources but students who have an appropriate background to start my course and a desire to learn. I am very much a hands-on teacher who likes to insert humor and knowledge from other areas as well. In other words, a very tangential personality that most students find keeps them from falling asleep. Yes, we may be studying area under the curve in Calculus, but by golly I will somehow insert (appropriately I hope) whatever is news or interesting from NPR, The Onion, The Huffington Post, or CNN. For most, getting that knowledge to stick in the brain involves interest & interaction —either verbally or written. Thus, the tradition of taking notes. I furnish my students with a sketchy outline for each chapter that includes 95% of the problems (not worked out of course J) that we will be going over. (5% is my “Oh, and let me show you this cool application…”) If I didn’t do this outline, they could never keep up with the fast pace.
I teach dual credit (high school and college credit) to high school students so for many of them, this is their first taste of college level expectations. The skills I want my students to end up with include not just subject knowledge, but ability to think (especially outside the box), ability to question “why” or even better “why not”, study/organizational skills, and appreciation/desire for learning. I relish the questions as my students try to “Stump the Chump” and almost daily I have to say, “I don’t know but I will know tomorrow.” I hope I am leading the quest for knowledge by example. Last week during the introductory stuff about trig, Descartes came up, of course, with a student asking, “Well, what did he die from?” My initial response was, “I’m not sure, but I know he didn’t get run over by a bus! I’ll tell you tomorrow.” Recent findings are interesting in that it appears he did not die from pneumonia as traditionally thought, but rather from some shadiness (arsenic poisoning) brought about the Queen of Sweden’s advisors having to do with his purported religious influences on her rather than anything related to mathematics. By the way, she forced him to go Sweden to give her math instruction at 5am in the morning (He was NOT a morning person.) in the dead of winter. Sent an armada to “persuade” him.
To help facilitate the “doing” in my normal classroom, I utilize a SMART board, graphing calculators, wireless writing slate (board that writes on the the SMART board from any location so I can wander) and individual whiteboards (yeah, kinda like those chalk boards your grandparents used in the one room schoolhouses). I give them the “big idea” and let them discover the details by doing problems and discussion. Sometimes the best discoveries are through one’s initial mistakes.
Some of my classes are ITV (interactive television) which means my students are physically remote. It is especially challenging to interact with a television monitor showing very small images, sometimes split into multiple screens (depending on the number of remote sites). You learn to recognize voices rather than images. It’s also important to know the students individually. It’s worth the 15 second chit-chat of asking how their basketball team did the night before. What they see is a split screen showing me, a document camera image, and if I choose, the students at the other sites. Sounds busy doesn’t it? Trying to keep this three-ring circus going can be challenging. Throw in occasional technical problems and you’ve got a zoo. Most of the teachers of these classes only meet 3 times a week (traditional college schedule in the US) but I choose to meet 5 times weekly because that’s what it takes for me to feel like I’ve given them the full monty, not to mention their money’s worth.
My students that have a mathematical interest usually graduate high school with 12 hours of college credit (College Algebra, Statistics, Trigonometry, Calculus I) and score at least a 30 in math on the ACT (actually, many of them get a perfect math score). Oh, did I mention that we are a rural k-12 school?
So that’s my opinion and I always have one!

 

Me two....

 

because that’s what it takes for me to feel like I’ve given them the full monty,

You give them the full monty? How can I sign up for your class?

 

I meant "full monty" as in the full deal, not as in "strip tease"!! I don't know if that would increase my class sizes or drastically empty them out!!

 

I meant "full monty" as in the full deal, not as in "strip tease"!! I don't know if that would increase my class sizes or drastically empty them out!!

I do not think you would be allowed to see the result of such an experiment. Before removed firm but gently from the class.

 

Hmmm...an experiment. I do teach statistics. Surely there is an appropriate mathematical application to be had from this. (Actually I needed a 10th post to be come a "real member" so this is it! )