{"id":1033,"date":"2014-11-15T02:54:39","date_gmt":"2014-11-15T02:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/wp\/?p=1033"},"modified":"2014-12-10T02:28:12","modified_gmt":"2014-12-10T02:28:12","slug":"how-do-we-get-kids-to-value-others-ideas-in-math-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/2014\/11\/15\/how-do-we-get-kids-to-value-others-ideas-in-math-class\/","title":{"rendered":"How do we get kids to value others&#8217; ideas in math class?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Some recent common situations:<\/p>\n<p>A very gifted student comes\u00a0to me (more than once) after class asking why he needs to listen to other students talk about their ideas in class when he already has his own ideas about how to do the problems. \u00a0Why do we spend so much time going over problems in class when he finished all the problems and he has to sit there and listen to others ask questions?<\/p>\n<p>A parent asks if their child can study Algebra II over winter break for two weeks and take a placement test in order to &#8220;pass out&#8221; of the rest of the course and not have to take mathematics. \u00a0A college counselor supports this so that they can move forward in their learning and get to Calculus by their senior year.<\/p>\n<p>Tweet from a fellow PBL teacher:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\"><p>OK: looking for ways to incentivise Ss helping other Ss in the class learn the material. Go. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SchettinoPBL\">@SchettinoPBL<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ddmeyer\">@ddmeyer<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/alexiswiggins\">@alexiswiggins<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Johnothon Sauer (@JASauer) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JASauer\/status\/533361506873016320\">November 14, 2014<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\"><p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SchettinoPBL\">@SchettinoPBL<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ddmeyer\">@ddmeyer<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/alexiswiggins\">@alexiswiggins<\/a> Presenter gets something from it, but often the others don&#8217;t, at least not as much as they could. \u2014 Johnothon Sauer (@JASauer) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JASauer\/status\/533415714401832960\">November 15, 2014<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\nOver the summer, a student wants to move ahead in a math course and they watch video after video on Khan Academy and take a placement test that allows them to move ahead past geometry into an Algebra II course. \u00a0Why would they need to spend a year in a geometry course when they have all of the material they need in 5 weeks of watching videos all alone?<\/p>\n<p>It is a very accepted cultural norm in the U.S. that math is an isolated educational experience. \u00a0I&#8217;m not quite sure where that comes from, but for me, it remains a rather traditionalist and damaging view of mathematical learning. \u00a0I would even go so far as to say that it could be blamed for the dichotomous view of mathematics as black or\u00a0white, right or\u00a0wrong, fast or slow, etc. \u00a0For many students, if they don&#8217;t fit that mold of a mathematics learner who can learn math by watching someone do it, sitting nicely and taking notes for 45 minutes while we &#8216;cover&#8217; section 2.4 today, then they are &#8216;bad at math.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Leone Burton once said that the process of learning mathematics is an inherently social enterprise and that coming to know mathematics depends on the active participation in the enterprises so valued and accepted in that community (Burton, 2002). \u00a0In other words, if we accept the status quo of the passivity of mathematics learning that is what we will come to believe is valued. \u00a0 In her research on the work of research mathematicians and their mathematical learning she found that the opposite of the status quo was true. \u00a0The collaborative nature of their practice had many benefits that mathematicians could claim including sharing work, learning from one another, appreciating the connections to others&#8217; disciplines and feeling less isolated (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.merga.net.au\/documents\/RP282007.pdf\">Grootenboer &amp; Zevenbergen, 2007<\/a>). \u00a0Collaboration was highly valued.<\/p>\n<p>We are doing students a disservice if we allow them to remain in the status quo of being passive mathematics students or thinking that they do not have to share and\/or listen to others. \u00a0The CCSS are asking (well, requiring) them to critique others&#8217; work and give feedback on problem solving methods. \u00a0They need to be able to say what they think about others&#8217; ideas and\u00a0construct their own argument. \u00a0How are they going to learn how to express their reasoning if they don&#8217;t listen to others and attempt to make sense of it?<\/p>\n<p>When working and\/or learning in isolation students are not asked to do any of this or even asked to make mathematical sense oftentimes. \u00a0They are just asked to regurgitate and show that they can repeat what they have seen. \u00a0How do we know they are making any sense if they do not have to respond to anyone or interact with a group? \u00a0The importance of the social interaction becomes apparent in this context.<\/p>\n<p>So what I try to explain to students is that mathematics means more to me than just being able to have a concept &#8220;transmitted&#8221; to them by someone showing them how to do something, but for them to actually do mathematics in a community of practice. \u00a0Creating that community takes a lot of work and mutual respect, but it&#8217;s something that is definitely worth it and I encourage everyone to keep inspiring me to keep doing it! \u00a0Thanks @JASauer.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=SchettinoPBL\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-size=\"large\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some recent common situations: A very gifted student comes\u00a0to me (more than once) after class asking why he needs to listen to other students talk about their ideas in class when he already has his own ideas about how to do the problems. \u00a0Why do we spend so much time going over problems in class [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,11,6,19],"tags":[88,74,87,86],"class_list":["post-1033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agency","category-in-the-classroom","category-problem-based-learning","category-relational-pedagogy","tag-interaction","tag-learning","tag-leoneburton","tag-listening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1033"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1046,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033\/revisions\/1046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelschettino.com\/dev0418\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}