Week Six - Private Universe Project in Mathematics - Workshop Six - Possibilities of Real-Life Problems - My Reaction

The idea of using real-life problems in mathematics is particularly important. Students often cannot relate to discussions involving mathematics. However, by using real-life situations and problems, students can see real-life reasons why they should learn mathematics.

It is not uncommon for mathematics students who are not planning on majoring in mathematics or business to ask why they need to learn high-level mathematics. However, by using a real-life example like calculating the speed of a cat, students can “relate” to the problem at hand. In addition, the speed of the cat problem is a very good introduction to calculus. It provides students with the opportunity to analyze changes in speed.

I really liked how the students were asked to model the actions of a cat. By having the students actually move along a line in the same way that the cat moved, students were able to develop a deeper understanding of what the dots on the graphs that they created actually meant. Honestly, I feel that this deep understanding of what a graph actually means is often lacking for many mathematics students. It is evident in the fact that there is math phobia, and it is even more evident in the fact that many students have trouble interpreting graphs and charts. Basically, what this video shows is that the solution to graphical and tabular interpretation problems that students have is to have them model what is going on in the graphs and tables. In essence, we need to let students bring graphs and tables “to life”. This will allow students to make sense of mathematical information.

In my opinion, the “Rutgers Way of Teaching” is certainly an excellent teaching strategy. Basically, it allows for teachers to be facilitators of learning because it is an inquiry-based approach. By using this way of teaching, students discover new concepts, and they become the teachers for other students. As many people know, if one can teach something that means that they truly understand it. The “Rutgers Way of Teaching” also allows students to develop “ownership” of a problem. It allows students to develop a sense of confidence that they are able to solve a problem on their own. In addition, it allows for students to explain to their peers how to solve a problem. This is particularly important because sometimes the way students go about teaching their peers is more effective then if a teacher shows a student how to do something. Lastly, this strategy of teaching allows for students to see that there are multiple ways to solve a problem. Thus, I feel that the “Rutgers Way of Teaching” is much more effective then a teacher simply telling students information. By telling students information, the chances of them retaining it are not nearly as high. In addition, simply lecturing to students can be boring for everyone involved.

I also agree with the narrator that having students justify their answers is very important. If students can justify their answers then they really understand a topic. This is a great test for educators to use when determining if their students have developed a deep understanding of a particular topic.

The Private Universe Project video series makes it clear that students learn best by working with manipulatives, being challenged, being asked to justify their answers, being required to find their own way of answering a question, modeling mathematical information, and working with real-life problems. If teachers take the lessons learned from this video series and apply them to their own classrooms then student interest levels in mathematics should rise. Ultimately, student test scores should follow suit.