I agree about the "math is hard" pose being a particularly obnoxious one, but to a certain extent I think it's become a pernicious social problem, often reinforced by older generations (there was no expectation I would do well in math or anything else, and that was stated).
Math word problems aren't the same as math, IMO. I do just fine with math, and with the real-world equivalent of word problems, buying the right amount of lumber without trouble or calculating the time to cover the distance to Portland in two equal legs if we swing over to the coast. But the often bizarre situtations or peculiar wording in word problems always flummoxed me in school!
Yet, apart from the math word problems, which I always blew, I did well enough with academic math. And money math.
I worked briefly for a math textbook publisher, proofreading (which means working problems and checking diagrams). I flagged one particular diagram as wrong and not applicable; the problem involved a boat going upriver. The editor insisted that the diagram was correct. It took a significant, detailed conversation for me to understand that the editor had chosen to draw the diagram with the boat going "down" the page and so all the left and right parts of the diagram were reveresed from what the cue word "upriver" had set up in my mind and not only did you have to read the problem and construct this thing in your mind but you had to rotate it... So I think I am language-dominant, and I do not have trouble figuring out how much tile for the bathroom and how long it will take and how much less gas I will use if I go 55 instead of 70, but if you put that to me in words, I will put the meaning of the words first.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-03 08:38 pm (UTC)Math word problems aren't the same as math, IMO. I do just fine with math, and with the real-world equivalent of word problems, buying the right amount of lumber without trouble or calculating the time to cover the distance to Portland in two equal legs if we swing over to the coast. But the often bizarre situtations or peculiar wording in word problems always flummoxed me in school!
Yet, apart from the math word problems, which I always blew, I did well enough with academic math. And money math.
I worked briefly for a math textbook publisher, proofreading (which means working problems and checking diagrams). I flagged one particular diagram as wrong and not applicable; the problem involved a boat going upriver. The editor insisted that the diagram was correct. It took a significant, detailed conversation for me to understand that the editor had chosen to draw the diagram with the boat going "down" the page and so all the left and right parts of the diagram were reveresed from what the cue word "upriver" had set up in my mind and not only did you have to read the problem and construct this thing in your mind but you had to rotate it... So I think I am language-dominant, and I do not have trouble figuring out how much tile for the bathroom and how long it will take and how much less gas I will use if I go 55 instead of 70, but if you put that to me in words, I will put the meaning of the words first.