Exit Slip 1 (Sept 7): Six Controversial Statements About (Mathematics) Education

During our class discussion of Rafaella Borasi’s “Six Controversial Statements About (Mathematics) Education” my group discussed the fourth statement remarking that “formal mathematics is just a frill”. After discussing this with my group and even the rest of the class my thoughts expanded and changed a great deal. Originally I viewed this statement as completely incorrect and almost insulting as I feel formal mathematics is an important foundation to have in order to truly understand a problem. I believed this foundation should be important and relevant to all students. However, I realized that, I, as a science and math teacher candidate, have a biased opinion. I enjoy mathematics and find proofs and other formal mathematics very valuable as they help me reach a deeper understanding. From the discussion at my own table I realized that this may not be the case for all students. Students in other unrelated fields may find this additional information useless and simply time consuming. Due to my own passion for deep knowledge in mathematics I forgot to realize that not all students think as I and my colleagues do.

Further, once we opened up the conversation to the entire class, I was again enlightened from my former thinking. Originally I thought I had reached a new understanding and realization that, no two students are alike, not all students possess the same passions for math and therefore all students do not necessarily need formal mathematics. Then Tash enlightened us all on an artistic shading technique which uses mathematics. Her mention opened my eyes and the class discussion to the interdisciplinary nature of education. This is when I realized that no two subjects exist in isolation. Regardless of a student’s specialization, value can be found in any subject area and connections between subjects can always be found or made. All learning is linked in some way, it is just up to us as teachers to find the connection and help students realize and appreciate them to their own extent.

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