How To Do Well In Math

After my last post, I thought I should throw a bone to all those people I tossed into math class hell just so they can graduate. Yesterday's San Jose Mercury News had an article about math education; it was written by a Stanford mathematician who is also the "Math Guy" on National Public Radio.

I admit that I've never heard of this "Math Guy" because I don't listen to National Pravda Radio, but that's a story for a different post =)

Here are some of his comments:

While it sounds reasonable to suggest, as the math-ed community does, that understanding mathematical concepts should precede -- or at least go along hand-in-hand with -- the learning of procedural skills (such as adding fractions or solving equations) -- there is evidence to suggest that this is simply not possible. The human brain evolved into its present state long before mathematics came onto the scene, and did so primarily to negotiate and survive in the physical world. Our brain does not find it easy to understand mathematical concepts, which are completely abstract....

Ask experts at any activity what it took them to acquire their expertise and they'll tell you in one word: practice. Expertise does not come from understanding, it comes from practice. The part of our brain that provides conscious understanding did not evolve to control and direct our detailed actions, it developed to make sense of them -- after the fact. (The benefit of that sense making is that we can make use of our understanding to guide future action at a higher, more strategic level.)

We are not ``natural-born mathematicians,'' but we are well equipped to learn new skills. Initially, we simply follow the rules in a mechanical fashion. Then, with practice, we gradually become better, and as our performance improves, our understanding grows. Anyone who has learned to play chess, play tennis, ski, drive a car, play a musical instrument, play a video game, etc. has experienced this progression from ``following rules,'' through proficiency, on to eventual mastery and understanding. Mathematics is no different....

And anyone who thinks that today's children don't have what it takes to practice for hours until they really ``get it'' has not watched them playing a video game.