Posted on 10/07/2023 3:40:59 AM PDT by george76
After a year of remote algebra, Diego Fonseca struggled with advanced algebra. Despite a week at George Mason University's Math Boot Camp, the would-be computer science major failed the math placement test to qualify for calculus four times. He didn't know the basics.
Across the country, more students are placing into pre-college math, reports AP's Collin Binkley. "At many universities, engineering and biology majors are struggling to grasp fractions and exponents."
At George Mason in Northern Virginia, fewer would-be STEM majors are getting into calculus and more are failing, he writes.
“We’re talking about college-level pre-calculus and calculus classes, and students cannot even add one-half and one-third,” said Maria Emelianenko, chair of George Mason’s math department.
At Temple, the number of students placed into intermediate algebra, the equivalent of ninth-grade math, has nearly doubled, writes Binkley. It's the lowest option for STEM majors.
In a softball quiz at the start of last year's fall semester, students were asked to subtract eight from negative six, recalls Jessica Babcock. “I graded a whole bunch of papers in a row. No two papers had the same answer, and none of them were correct.”
“It’s not just that they’re unprepared, they’re almost damaged,” said Brian Rider, Temple’s math chair. “I hate to use that term, but they’re so behind.”
Professors tried "expanded office hours, a new tutoring center, pared-down lessons focused on the essentials," writes Binkley. "But students didn’t come for help, and they kept getting D’s and F’s."
This year, Babcock hopes redesigning the algebra class to focus on "active learning" will help. "Class will be more of a group discussion, with lots of problems worked in-class."
George Mason also is offering active learning, and the option to take a slower-paced math class that takes two terms instead of one.
Fonseca failed the placement test four times, again placing in pre-calculus. He'd need at least one extra semester to catch up on math. He decided to start at community college instead. Using what he'd learned in boot camp, he placed into calculus.
Class will be more of a group discussion,
Its math and you tell them its done THIS way...not a group discussion.
I had to think on it for a minute then remembered “the lowest common denominator.”
It’s all about finding the lowest common denominator, which is ironically what they are brining the students down to.
It was really useful when we divided the pizza...the 13 yr old got 1/2, the 9 year old got 1/3...and mom got what was left....which is why mom is underweight.
People who are rusty (and that's all or most of us) can start at the very beginning to get back in the swing of things. That's what I did and was amazed at how many little rules about math I either forgot or never learned (and I considered majoring in math in college).
If you start at the very beginning, you'll zoom ahead as it all comes back to you.
Khan Academy is a mixture of very short videos and exercises (usually 4 questions to test your understanding).
Sal Khan makes math fun and easy to understand.
Don't be so hard on yourself, knowing what'll fit in your trunk, refrigerator, or what not, is a subjective form of multi-variable calculus.
And knowing about how close you can have something on your stove to the hot spot without catching fire would be a form of partial differential equations.
So now you can tell people you are a math genius!
Does 5/6 mean somewhere between 5 and 6? I converted it to kilopounds and got 0.8333333.
Looks like a cool site.
LOL! If so, it’s only thanks to my hubby. I’ve always had a problem with anything other than basic math. Algebra and trig gave me fits. I took calc in college and if it hadn’t been for hubby, then my fiance, If have never gotten through it.
But I use math on a daily basis.
If young’uns were persuaded that being able to do math would truly makes their lives better in all kinds of ways, and it does, then even if their publik skrewl teachers suck, kids might find someone else to help them learn it.
“Creative math” is not math at all, it is more like learning a sorcerer’s handwritten manual by rote, and is useless in the real world.
There was a reason elementary and secondary students were forbidden the use of calculators in tests by the instructors. They get lazy and never understand the underlying concepts that lie at the base of all computations.
Now, you want a challenge, teach them the use of an old-fashioned slide rule. With trig functions, log, and a log log scale. All analog, no digital at all.
The first thing when adding fractions is to find the common denominator.
Fractional math used to be taught in elementary school.
Most “college” students don’t know what a common denominator is. That’s the problem right there.
Here's the place to start for math.
khanacademy.org/mathSal Khan, who learned math at MIT, posted a few videos on youtube to help his nieces who were struggling with math...and they caught on with others interested in math.
As Sal says, everyone is good at math...they just need a good teacher to bring out their math genius.
And he is a very good teacher.
👍
The other thing they don’t know is the sequencing... (My Dear Aunt Sally...)
I feel a racist slant coming on...
If any of these STEM programs were 80% Asian and 20% Jewish, they would not be part of this discussion.
In the course of my long and unillustrious life, practically every successful math student got there in spite of their school classes, and that includes private schools.
“After a year of remote algebra...”
One year of remote algebra does not explain why kids don’t understand basic arithmetic.
The education bureaucracy is trying to use the Wuhan lockdowns as cover for what they have inflicted on public schools for several decades.
Next, they will need more money to fix the problem.
I went to grade school from 1962-70. HS 1970-74
No calculators in GS. They weren't around. We learned math the old fashion way. Pencil, paper and scrunching up forehead.
No calculators in HS. They were just coming around and really expensive. We used slide rules.
This is what a slide rule looked like, for the youngsters;
i tought it be like 1 or sumfin cause one halfs plus some other part be like around one if i be estamatin
You are correct you old fogey...but I use that term with awe and respect for your mastery! LOL!
Roger your sarcasm about the new math!
Teaching the old ways of computation even including the abacus would be great! It would give them a sense of history.
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