Mathematics and Society - OS X Lion Server

DIDACTICSTEACHING VIA PROBLEM SOLVINGsolving is that after concentrated but unsuccessful work, leaving a problem for aperiod of time often results in a spontaneous or a fairly rapid solution when youreturn to the problem.Hence, you mightmention a problem on Monday, let thestudents work a while, bring up theproblem on Tuesday, perhaps adding ahint or allowing students to look at"hint" cards on your desk (checkingprivately with students who think theyhave solved the problem), bring it upagain on Thursday to check progress(and to remind students of it), andfinally have students show solutions onFriday.(There is no magic in the daysmentioned; however, at some time theunsuccessful students should at least seeYOU M 1G.1-\l TRV50ME SIMPLERPROBLEM':>, AI\lDTHEI\l MAKE ATABLE.someone's solution, if for no other reason than to study how the problem was attacked.)If a student has worked several minutes and is stumped, suggest that he "sleep on it" (and do something else right now.Some work with college students has suggested that females may do more poorlythan males on problems--particularly problems dealing with "masculine" situations-­because girls feel that they are not supposed to do well in mathematics.It is notclear when this particular attitude develops or whether it is prevalent among middleschool girls, but you might be watching for students who seem to have adopted suchan attitude.(Be certain that nothing in your teaching is promoting this attitude!)If there are no female mathematics teachers in your school, you might arrange a guestpresentation by a female teacher from another school or a university, or by somemathematically successful high school girls.Similar success-models could be soughtfor any other identifiable group who seem convinced that they cannot do well inmathematics.Help to overcome the block: word problems. Or are they word exercises?Probably both. We can help to retain their problem character by at least makingsure the students have to read the problem to get a solution.Assignments shouldcontain problems which have extraneous or insufficient data and which require a differentoperation for at least some problem(s) in the list. Otherwise, we may be in (the situation that the Luchinses described more than 25 years ago.C30