The advantages of instrumental understanding Skemp lists in
this article can be viewed as study strategies for students who want to have easier
grades and see apparent progress. This type of learning could help students who
have had serious problems with mathematics and just need the grades to pass a
course. Although my teaching experience is very limited, I have witnessed quite
a few students who say they hate mathematics, and some of those students even think
that they would not need mathematics in the real world. They might be right in
some way, but if they were taught to learn relationally rather than
instrumentally, their mathematical approaches towards the world might have been
very different. With instrumental mathematics taught, students might think they
understand, but they are not able to apply those concepts they learned to
different situations. Lack of this skill leads to memory work and eventually
boring classes. In boring classes students tend to strive for easy grades, and
the cycle goes on. A different approach to teaching math, such as relational
understanding, would not just enhance the depth of students’ understanding but
also increase their interest in the subject.
Reading thorough my old posts I have written during this term, I realized something interesting. When I read articles and had to write reflections on them, I found them quite interesting but did not really reinforce those thoughts in myself. I thought they all had great ideas, but I did not pay attention afterwards. As I worked on various assignments for the course, including the math art project, two micro teaching lessons, and the final unit plan, and as I experienced many different teaching philosophies and styles of other peer TC's, I gradually became more adaptable to accept and change. Like other courses that have emphasized diversity in the classroom, the EDCP 342 course has helped me to accept others' opinions and behaviours. I liked how we had chances to experience different aspects of teaching almost every class. The class activity where we discussed how formation of desks affects students' learning was very inspiring. It allowed me to think about other possible...
It's interesting that we say a student 'needs' grades to pass a course. Outside of bureaucratic regulations within schools, what kind of 'need' is that? What does it serve anyone to make a lot of kids bored, I wonder? I appreciate your call for more relational understanding!
ReplyDeleteI guess it's essential to teach students why we need to learn Math first rather than just teaching them the content that is in the curriculum. Students must realize why they learn what they learn. Until then, everything they do at school is just what they have to do because they were told to. Relational mathematics can be one of many approaches that teachers can take in order to guide their students in that way.
DeleteI like your comments!
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