What's Math Got To Do With It

Jo Boaler, “What’s Math Got To Do With It: Helping Children Learn To Love Their Least Favorite Subject”, Penguin Group, 2008, 246 Pages

A must read book for parents’ & grandparents worried about the next generations lack of math skills. Jo Boaler, a noted professor of mathematics education at Stanford University is the author.
She documents that the U.S. is rapidly falling behind the rest of the developed world in terms of math education. Experts estimate that by 2008 America will have generated twenty million more jobs for people who are mathematical problem solvers. Unfortunately it has also been estimated that 60 percent of all new jobs in the early twenty-first century will require skills that are possessed by only 20 percent of the current workforce. Boaler outlines the nature of the math crisis by following the progress of students in middle and high schools over a number of years, observing which teaching methods are exciting students and getting results. She presents concrete solutions to help reverse this trend, including classroom approaches, essential strategies for students, and advice for parents.

Although Boaler advocates for teaching in a mathematical way (i.e., a way that allows students to explore mathematics) rather than advocating for a certain style of teaching, she shows her preference for reform mathematics practices throughout the book. Reform mathematics practices focus on student discussions and explorations, situated learning, and the development of an understanding of the meaning of mathematical concepts. This approach is an alternative to the repetitive practice of mathematical methods that tends to be associated with traditionalist teaching practices.
My Notes:

Pg. 92: There is also evidence that the standardized questions test language as much as they do mathematics.

Pg. 111: Many parents fear mixed-ability grouping and cannot see the logic of grouping students with very different needs and limited teacher resources into one class. Yet, mixed-ability grouping is repeatedly found to be associated with higher achievement. Author then goes on in great detail listing four reasons why this is so.

Pg. 113: When teachers have lower expectations for students and they teach them low-level work, the children’s achievement is suppressed. This is the reason that ability grouping is illegal in many countries in the world, including Finland, the country that topped the world in the latest international achievement tests.

Pg. 124: Multiplication of Binomial Distributions such as (x + 3)(x + 7). We have all been taught to use the FOIL system:
1. Multiply the First terms (x times x)
2. Multiply the Outer terms (x times 7)
3. Multiply the Inner terms (3 times x) and then
4. Multiply the Last Terms (3 times 7) Then add all the terms together (x2 + 7x + 3x + 21 =
5. (x2 + 7x + 3x + 21 = x2 + 10x + 21)
But this never made sense: Can you tell why it works? See diagram below for explanation:


















Pg. 177: Children’s play with building blocks in the early years has been identified as one of the key reasons for success in mathematics all through school. Any sorts of play with building blocks, interlocking cubes, or kits for making objects is fantastically helpful in the development of spatial reasoning, which is fundamental to mathematical understanding.

Pg. 184: When you are working woth your child on math, be as enthusiastic as possible. Parents, especially mothers of girls should never, ever say, ‘I was hopeless at math!”
Author recommends purchasing Principles and Standards for School Mathematics published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), available as a book and a CD via their Web site (www.nctm.org). It not only recommends what students should be learning, in what order, it provides lots of examples of good ways of working and helpful activities. Some states have sensibly adopted NCTM Standards.

Another: Pat Kenschaft, Math Power: How to Help Your Child Love Math, Even If Your Don’t, is also a good resource for keeping up to date with the demands of different grade levels.

Beginning on page 214 is a list of many math resource books.