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Skemp: Relational Understanding and Instrumental Understanding



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.

Comments

  1. Susan GerofskySeptember 25, 2017 at 10:07 AM

    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!

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    Replies
    1. UnknownOctober 2, 2017 at 5:07 PM

      I 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.

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  2. Susan GerofskyNovember 29, 2017 at 1:13 AM

    I like your comments!

    ReplyDelete

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