Math haters, would you ever consider liking math if it was taught in a manner in which you understood?

Question

I am doing an English research paper, in which one aspect involves the negative attitudes towards mathematics and how those negative attitudes can be changed.

If you would like to help with this study, and possibly change your mind about math, I would most appreciate it.

To also get an idea of the demography, I would also appreciate if I could get;
Your Age
Your Gender
Your home country
If you would actually change your mind about math if it was taught in a manner in which you understood.

Thanks in advance for your time.

Answer 1

You can't love something you don't understand! If someone teaches Maths in a way you are able to comprehend then I'm sure you will love them,Mathematics is a great science and extremely interesting! 22,Female,Greece

Answer 2

How would math haters know whether they would like math or not? They already hate it for one reason or another.

I hate politics. Would understanding our political system make me like it? Well, maybe, but I seriously doubt it. I just don't like much about politics and have little time for it.

So the issue that I see is that math haters already have a feeling that there is little that they're missing out on by not understanding math. Why bother with it, even if they could understand it?

The things that I dislike are typically those things that I see little use for or that I view as ineffective/useless (hence my dislike for politics). Perhaps negative attitudes about math could be improved by more effective examples of how math can help makes life easier - modifying recipes, recognizing bargains, building things,...

Edit:
By the way, itsakitty makes an important point. A lot of early math and physics is just learning the rules. The fun stuff only comes later when you can use what you've already learned.

Nobody really cares how much force there is between two spheres, each 1 meter in diameter, spaced 3 meters apart and carrying a charge of 1 coulomb. Nobody.

But... how many people would love to have a job with Mythbusters? That's where the fun is. There is a huge amount of math and physics represented in each episode of Mythbusters. It's the applications that are fun.

I don't think that simply understanding is enough. Seeing where it leads and what you can do with it is what makes it fun.

BTW, I'm 54 years old, male, and an engineer from the U.S.

Answer 3

This is a very interesting topic. I think about this a lot, being a math major myself. In high school, I wasn't very interested in math. I only liked it because I was good at it, and it was a self-esteem boost. I didn't choose to major in math in college; I just picked it up along the way as I was going for a Comp Sci degree.

I didn't really get interested in math until taking higher level math courses, which get away from all of this silly nitpicky arithmetic and basic algebra to talking about concepts and proofs, which is what REAL math is all about.

I frequently wonder if there's any way to present this material in high school, on an easier level. The hard part is that all of this algebra and trig that you must trudge through to get to the "good stuff" IS important to understand thoroughly, in the same way that it's important to understand basic arithmetic to be able to use it in everyday life situations. But there must be some better way to go about it?

Just in case you need this info: age- 25, gender - female, home country - US, and for the last part, I would change the last bit to say "if it were taught in a manner which stimulated interest" or something like that, because I understood high school math, but it was boring!

Answer 4

i like math and i in a.m. [[advanced math]]. i think that my teacher does a good job teaching it and she also offers after school help if you don't understand something.

12

female

jersey, USA

=]