Making Sense of Math

When I meet new people they often ask what I do for a living. When I tell them I am a high school math teacher they often either change the subject, looking at me like I must be a genius from a foreign planet, or they launch into a story about how horrible their high school math courses were. Both scenarios put me on edge. I am tired of both reactions. It’s time we all got over how bad math was then and instead focus on how great it can be now.

When I meet new people they often ask what I do for a living. When I tell them I am a high school math teacher they often either change the subject, looking at me like I must be a genius from a foreign planet, or they launch into a story about how horrible their high school math courses were. Both scenarios put me on edge. I am tired of both reactions. It’s time we all got over how bad math was then and instead focus on how great it can be now.

To do my part, I spent the past year trying to answer this question: can schools positively change the current perception students have of math? I am relieved to learn the answer: Absolutely!

As teachers, we must do our best to ensure that no student feels like math is a useless waste of time that adds nothing to their lives. To start with, our classrooms shouldn’t look the same as they did in the 1960s, with blank walls surrounding rows of desks directed to a teacher at the front. We should not be using direct instruction followed by independent practice the majority of the time. It is our responsibility to ensure students don’t sit passively in class, bored, with little interaction. Deeper learning occurs when students own it; therefore, no student should view math class as just another hoop to jump through.

Last year during my inquiry into changing math perspectives, I was able to work closely with a variety of colleagues to develop innovative ways of teaching math. I knew our creativity was working when I called my colleague, Todd Randall, in the middle of my class to celebrate the learning that had just occurred during our Math 9 Data Analysis Unit.

“I was just about to call you and say the exact same thing!” he responded.

It was fascinating to see students proud of their math knowledge, exposing the power of the math to their classmates and sharing the impact they had on their own community.

Two students who particularly stick out in my mind chose to study water conservation as the topic of interest for their Data Analysis Project. One key to successful projects was to ensure that students chose a topic they were passionate about, which allowed them to be intrinsically motivated and dedicated to seeing the problem through. These students decided to investigate how many Grade 9 students at West Vancouver Secondary School turn the tap off while brushing their teeth. To do this they had to learn how to create, implement and evaluate surveys. Through their survey, the students found that 89 percent of the Math 9 students at WVSS turned off the tap while brushing their teeth. Next they made a plan to use this information to impact their peers and hopefully their community. They created a social norms marketing poster campaign throughout the school. Since June 2013, I haven’t gone a day without thinking about how excited those students were when they presented their findings to the class, and it reminds me to turn the tap off while I brush my teeth each and every day.

This project was a lengthy learning experience, but through student-centered lessons, scaffolding through a project guide and feedback from peers and myself along the way, every student successfully met the learning outcomes. That’s every student – even the ones who typically don’t succeed in a traditional math class. This time, they had the freedom (guided as it was) to learn in such a way that they understood the math.

In addition to the Data Analysis Unit, I was blown away by my students’ creativity, independence, leadership skills and dedication during the Linear Relations Unit in Math 9. Todd Randall and I created this unit to be completely taught through student-centered lessons. Not once did I stand at the front of the room and tell the students to do something. At first I was fearful, but I trusted Todd’s experience and dove right into one of the most impactful units of study I have ever taught.

We developed problem sets that challenged students to work in teams to solve problems in their own unique way, alongside hands-on activities that encouraged students to learn through discovery. As teachers, we stepped off the podium and became coaches for our students. This new role provided us with the opportunity to question students in order to more deeply evaluate their understanding and encourage rich, critical thinking. This style of teaching engaged students, increased their desire to be in the class and overall made learning more fun!

Throughout the Linear Relations Unit, students used their new skills to complete a project, which they presented in a format similar to that of the CBC TV show Dragon’s Den. They had to decide what they wanted to sell, research a fair market price, and identify the linear relation (pattern) that exists between the number of units sold and revenue in a variety of forms (table of values, graph and equation). Their products included a magnetic change wallet, computerized reading glasses, an electronic globe and a domain-free music website. I found students got so involved that they forgot they were doing math. They had made the transition from doing math to using math to convince their audience.

As teachers, we must do our best to ensure that no student feels like math is a useless waste of time that adds nothing to their lives, or that math class is just another hoop to jump through.

We are teaching at an exciting time, especially in the area of math. We need to embrace this opportunity to inspire our students to have a love for, or at least a curiosity about, math. To do this we need to be reflective, open-minded and creative team members, inquirers, investigators, risk-takers, innovators, thinkers and decision makers. Most importantly, as teachers, we need to provide students with opportunities to demonstrate these characteristics. In doing so we are preparing students for today and tomorrow.

Illustration: Dave Donald

First published in Education Canada, November 2013

EN BREF – La pédagogie expérientielle est essentielle si les éducateurs désirent approfondir l’apprentissage des élèves, les aider à se réaliser et leur faire découvrir comment utiliser des notions scolaires dans le monde réel. L’auteure explique comment la réinvention d’un cours de mathématiques au secondaire a amélioré la perception des mathématiques chez les élèves. La création d’expériences d’apprentissage des mathématiques au moyen de projets du monde réel, de travaux d’investigation et de leçons centrées sur les élèves les a aidés à devenir intrinsèquement motivés. L’auteure donne des exemples de façons dont les enseignants peuvent engendrer une passion – ou tout au moins une curiosité – pour les mathématiques en offrant des expériences d’apprentissage qui comportent un sens pour les élèves et qui leur permettent d’utiliser les mathématiques, plutôt que de seulement en faire.