The Case Against Mandating Math for Students, Dan Berrett, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb 2016
Study argues that algebra and other theoretical-math courses are poorly taught and function as a barrier to further education. Mathematics, study says, "is the only field I know of that claims that if you study it, you do better in other fields. There is no evidence for that whatsoever."
Mathematics is subject very complicated for most of the students at all levels. Some of the reasons are:
· The lack of a good methodology used by many professors in teaching Mathematics.
· The lack of sufficient time for the studies of Mathematics by the students.
· The lack of motivation of the students as a result of the way the professor is teaching Mathematics.
· The used of wrong books as reference.
· The bad preparation of the students in Mathematics.
Mathematics should be teaching rigorously on the basis of its Axioms, theorems, properties, corollaries, definitions and concepts and the relations among them. The most part of all classes should be devoted to explain the definitions, concepts, theorems, etc., and way is so important to understand them.
Teaching Mathematics throughout exercises and examples is a wrong approach. Examples and exercises should be used only to clarify and fix the definitions and concepts given to the students.
The students should be learned to think and apply the definitions, concepts, theorems, etc., in each exercises done and why this manner of teaching Mathematics is the correct one.
This is my experience as former Mathematics’ professor at the University level.
I went through the article and agree with the fact that excelling in mathematics does not necessarily guarantee definite success in other areas. The premise behind this general and often-not -correct notion is that anyone who can crack a hard nut like mathematics is also able to tackle any other areas quite easily.
A flawed inference it is indeed since every subject is different by its own merit and being successful in one does not ensure in others unless they are closely related.
In STEM subjects, mathematics definitely plays an essential role however in routine science and engineering activities, its role is rather limited wherein basic level understanding in arithmetic, geometry, algebra and trigonometry just works fine. In research area however specifically in engineering, physics, computational chemistry and biology, advanced knowledge of mathematics is indispensable.
The problem is in school level is that the topic is just taught like another subject without stressing on its wide natural examples which lie specifically in physics. Ideally, it would be the task of the instructor to bring forward such examples from daily life and allow students to appreciate the importance of mathematics apart from just memorizing the equations, theorems etc.
Another critical part is to expose students to visualize mathematics through appropriate graphical representation where possible which does a world of good to students in undergraduate/graduate level education in STEM subjects.
A requirement in the STEM subjects is to be able to describe a physical phenomenon using the general conservation principles for a system involving mass/momentum and energy balance using appropriate mathematical terms. Many students fear this part since they have never been adequately taught to describe physical, chemical and biological phenomena using appropriate mathematics which is usually delivered in an isolated way.
No wonder it is hard for all since mathematics is just a communicative language in science and engineering to solve real life problems however hardly emphasized that way.
1) establish the network of relevant knowledge units: concepts, definitions, facts and algorithms, including all important relations between these units.
2) design your teaching process as a path in this network.
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