By Fernando Guerrero, EL PAÍS, 13/9/2008
Es curioso que pocos adolescentes, tras años de estudiar matemáticas, sean capaces de identificar sus utilizaciones prácticas en el día a día de sus vidas.
Haces unos días leí en el país un interesante artículo: “7 de cada 10 alumnos de 3º de ESO madrileños suspenden matemáticas”. La verdad es que algunos de esos problemas que mostraban en el test son bastante parecidos a problemas que podría uno encontrarse en la vida diaria, y sin embargo, 7 de cada 10 alumnos no supieron resolverlos.
Cuando vamos en el coche con un hijo adolescente, y nos lanza la consabida pregunta de “¿cuánta falta para llegar?” si le decimos lo que queda por recorrer en kilómetros son incapaces de adivinar razonablemente cuánto tiempo llevará recorrer ese camino.
Como sigo teniendo gente en edad escolar a mi alrededor, sigo aquello de “¿este problema es de sumar o de multiplicar?”. Lo mismo ocurre con problemas de física, donde los alumnos tienen una tendencia exagerada a simplemente multiplicar todos los datos que se les dan y a ver qué sale.
Me pregunto si los profesores les enseñan el sentido de esos cálculos, y su utilidad potencial en la vida real. Mi gusto por las matemáticas la debo a mi viejo profesor de matemáticas en los Salesianos de Úbeda. Era un coronel retirado del ejército, con un humor delicioso, y un corazón como un armario, que entre chiste y broma nos enseñó los principios de tan interesante y útil disciplina. Quizá su mentalidad de militar y su formación en ingeniería militar le permitieron darle ese puntillo que nos hacía creer en la utilidad de esas enseñanzas. Nunca le olvidaré, ha tenido una influencia clave en toda mi vida académica y profesional.
Una cosa que echo de menos entre la gente joven, tan acostumbrada al uso de calculadoras y ordenadores, es la falta de habilidad para cálculo mental. No estoy hablando de resolver de cabeza ecuaciones diferenciales en derivadas parciales, sino de simple matemática. Al menos a mí siempre me ha sido muy útil el poder calcular mentalmente una resultado aproximado, a veces con el orden de magnitud es suficiente.
Atrás quedaron aquellos tiempos en los que podía multiplicar por 9.8 de cabeza (hace tiempo que dejé de aplicar fórmulas físicas, y ya no tengo los mismos años) pero tengo que lidiar todos los días con cifras, presupuestos, porcentajes, aproximaciones y predicciones, y calcular mentalmente una cifra aproximada me permite más rápidamente hacerme una idea del resultado, que utilizar una calculadora o una hoja de cálculo.
Quizá habría que hacer menos hincapié en fórmulas y problemas abstractos hasta que hayan sido capaces de poder enunciar los problemas con los que se pueden enfrentar día a día. Estoy seguro de que todos serían capaces de adentrarse en matemáticas más abstractas una vez que tengan más claro las aplicaciones prácticas de lo que han estudiado hasta la fecha.
1) What does the article say about Math Education? What do you think about Math Education?
2) According to the article, why do students use the calculator so much? Is the calculator really necessary?
3) At the end of the article the author gives a possible solution to this situation. What is it? Do you agree?
1) What does the article say about Math Education? What do you think about Math Education?
Teenagers also students, a value of 7/10, doesn’t know how to apply maths in real life or even for what is it used.
2) According to the article, why do students use the calculator so much? Is the calculator really necessary?
They have for say it in a good way, bad habit for using calculators or programs that give us facilities in arithmetic or basic calculation, forgeting the simple calculations, that all people must know, because they are the base of maths. Besides, are useful for get a approximately result, very approach, and obtain an idea of the magnitudes of the result. This, is a help, nothing more and nothing less than the human mind, the first tool of the human, withouth them anyone can do nothing.
3) At the end of the article the author gives a possible solution to this situation. What is it? Do you agree?
I think that teachers must do more mental works, and homework, for active the neurons, and get the results easily without depending of machine.
I bet by the mind calculation, I do it that way in the 60% of the cases, unless that are big numbers, where operating with hudge values are difficult and sometimes heavy.
1) What does the article say about Math Education? What do you think about Math Education?
The information of this article is that the students doesn’t know the true meaning of Maths and can’t apply it in their real life. The statistics make true this fact because 7 of 10 students, in Madrid, fale Maths.
For Math Education I think the teachers doesn’t explain us Maths like a funny activity, I’m meaning, the explain them like a funny game for them but a boring game for the students and is too boring when the people doesn’t like anything of that “magic” world. They (the teachers) have to explain the theory like an intersting and new things not just therory, memorize and study.
2) According to the article, why do students use the calculator so much? Is the calculator really necessary?
The students use the calculator because is faster, easier and you don’t have to think a lot to know the solution. Obiuslly, the calculator isn’t necessary but is an invent that help us a lot for doing any operation and you don’t have to do anything, just copy the solution and that’s it. But this is not bad, because the people who do that is because they want and don’t want to improve their mental math calculs.
3) At the end of the article the author gives a possible solution to this situation. What is it? Do you agree?
One of the possible solutions is that the students have to practice more the Maths for apply them in their real life, easierlly. The best form to learn something is to practice it a lot of times and enjoy it because if you just study and learn the theory but you don’t enjoy and have a bad time, it will be boring, very boring (for the majority of students). I agree with he because the practice is the best form for learning.
These are my conclusions and answers of the three questions,
Bye!
1) What does the article say about Math Education? What do you think about Math Education?
The article says that the students don’t like maths (like a lot of us) and because of that they don’t do any effort for memorise any formula or anything like that. An example of what happens is in Madrid, that 7 out 10 students don’t pass maths.
About math education I think that is easier to learn when the students have a funny time because it’s proved that students learn quickly when they enjoy what are they doing and maths sometimes is boring and stressful, and students don’t like that.
2) According to the article, why do students use the calculator so much? Is the calculator really necessary?
Students use the calculator so much because they don’t learn or don’t have the habit of calculating fast maths, in fact the calcuator isn’t really necessary but, because the students don’t want to think, they use the calculator (“els fa pal”). For example, this year, 3rd of ESO is not allowed to use calculator in Maths and Physics, that is because we have to have the habit of calculate thing mentally.
3) At the end of the article the author gives a possible solution to this situation. What is it? Do you agree?
The possible solution that the author gives is to don’t spend a lot of time in hypotetical problems or equations and make the students to face their problems in life. I’m agree with the author because it means less time of studying maths and more free time for study other different things that could be more interesting that doing hypotethical problems. So, concluding it I can say that in the future I think that we have to spend less times in some aspects of maths that aren’t really necessary in our life and use it to study some other things that are going to be useful in life.
1) The article says that the students doesn’t use the maths in life, and we use calculators and computers more and more. I think that use mental maths in life is more useful than ask or bring a calculator for the street. We should use mental maths for ourself, cause is better and faster know aproximate the solution thanks to the mental maths and use the mental maths train our brains.
2) Is not really necessary but is more easy and the students don’t wanna spend his time thinking because they don’t have the idea that maths can help to our way to live in life.
3) He says that if we learn before the maths aplications in life we can after learn and do abstract maths easier and thinking logically, not in numbers. My conclution is that the majority of us don’t like maths because this aplications don’t exist, so I’m agree with his solution.
1) What does the article say about Math Education? What do you think about Math Education?
That 7 of every 10 students of 3rd of ESO in Madrid fail mathemathics, because they don’t know how to apply them in problems (even if they are daily problems).
I think maybe many teachers only teach how to add or multiply, or some formulas, without saying when can we use them or why.
2) According to the article, why do students use the calculator so much? Is the calculator really necessary?
Because it’s easier to use the calculator instead of thinking and operating, we are lazy.
I think the calculator is necessary for some difficult calculations but not for doing stupid calculations like 54+99 or a simple multiplication.
3) At the end of the article the author gives a possible solution to this situation. What is it? Do you agree?
Less abstract problems and formulas and more practice of using what they are studing.
I agree, because maybe it’s easier to understand with a “real” problem and not an stupid abstract problem.
1) What does the article say about Math Education? What do you think about Math Education?
This article says that nowadays the students aren’t motivated to do Math, because it’s always numbers, and thinking, and proving things, that maybe in the future for us it won’t be useful.
A clear example is that 7 out of 10 students of 3rd of ESO fail Maths in Madrid.
2) According to the article, why do students use the calculator so much? Is the calculator really necessary?
I think that calculator isn’t really necessary, because the operations we can do them with our brain (mental Math).
I think that students use the calculator so much because they don’t want to spend their fabulous time thinking or trying to discover the result of an operation when they have the calculator, that it’s an easier and a faster way.
3) At the end of the article the author gives a possible solution to this situation. What
is it? Do you agree?
The author says that first they need to learn how to use Math in the real life, and after it they can learn abstract Math. I agree with thim because if we learn Math and it won’t be useful in real life why do we learn it? This is always a question that the students make to the teacher.
To sum up, I think that the teachers of Math in a lot of cases if they want their students to pass the need to motivate more their students.
1) What does the article say about Math Education? What do you think about Math Education?
The article says that the students from Madrid don’t pass math because they don’t find a real utility for the math problems in life.
That the teacher now only show the formula or the operation, but no its real utility.
2) According to the article, why do students use the calculator so much? Is the calculator really necessary?
Because it’s an easy and fast way to do some operations, and also because we don’t want to think.
At the present, the machines help the humans to make our life easier, the calculator is necessary, but not for do do all the operations.
3) At the end of the article the author gives a possible solution to this situation. What is it? Do you agree?
That in the math classes, the problems have to be more “familiar” and useful in real life.
Yes, if the problems are more useful, then we will apply the problems in real life.
1) What does the article say about Math Education? What do you think about Math Education?
-The article says that the most of the students in their real life don’t know who to solve some important problems of mathematics. In fact, this problems are problems that they did in the school, high school, university… And some people think that this is a problem, because in the life sometimes you have to sole problems mentally, without calculator, and if you don’t know how to calculate mentally, maybe this will be a problem. Also in this newsitem puts that 7 students out of 10 fail mathematics. In my point of view I think that mathematics can be so bored, or so funny. It depends of the teachers. If he/she does the class more ‘dinamic’ maybe the students will be more motivated, and maybe they will listen more, so they will learn more things.
2) According to the article, why do students use the calculator so much? Is the calculator really necessary?
-The students use the calculator because maybe they don’t want to do the operations mentally or they haven’t got motivation. And use the calculator is easier and faster that if you solve it with your head. Well, the calculator is not really necessary in your life, you can live perfectly without calculator, but maybe the life will be more difficult because you will not solve some problems.
3) At the end of the article the author gives a possible solution to this situation. What is it? Do you agree?
-The author says that one of the possible solutions it will be, put less formulas and abstract problems and be able to solve the important problems that will appear in real life every day. And when they will know the importants things, after they will be able to know formulas and abstract problems.
1) What does the article say about Math Education? What do you think about Math Education?
It says that 7 of 10 students of 3rd of ESO (the course we are doing) cannot pass Mathematics. I agree with the writer of this new because if they know the utility of those things for them will be easier.
2) According to the article, why do students use the calculator so much? Is the calculator really necessary?
I think that is because you don’t need to think and you know certainly the answer. But it is not really necessary for easy operations.
3) At the end of the article the author gives a possible solution to this situation. What is it? Do you agree?
He says that instead of make us solve abstract problems, first, we’ll need to solve real problems and problems we’ll need to solve in the future everyday. Then, when we know how to do that we can go beyond and solve abstract problems that we will understand better.
1) What does the article say about Math Education? What do you think about Math Education?
I
t says that 7/10 students of 3rd of ESO in Madrid failed maths and that most of the questions in the exam are about quotidians problems. I think that what this guy say like that most of the students can’t calculate well by mind are correct for a part of the students but not to all… He explain us that maybe this problem exist because the teachers doesn’t explain very well that we will have to use it everyday but I think this is a think that the students have to learn individually.
2) According to the article, why do students use the calculator so much? Is the calculator really necessary?
He say that we us the calculator because is faster and easier and that he can solve or have an idea of this results by mind and faster than with the calculator. In this I agree with he because in some problems is faster and easier do it by mind and you will have a better idea of the final result.
3) At the end of the article the author gives a possible solution to this situation. What is it? Do you agree?
He say that in maths, first the students should learn the important things of maths in live and the the abstract problems and formulas. I agree with him in this too but I think that to learn all the importnat things for live of maths we will need lots of years because ther are lots of differents situations and problems in live.
1) What does the article say about Math Education? What do you think about Math Education?
The article says that every 7 of 10 3rD ESO students in Madrid don’t pass the year, because they don’t think that the “boring” problems of maths are in real life, they think “Why we use mental maths if we can use calculators or computers?”
2) According to the article, why do students use the calculator so much? Is the calculator really necessary?
They use the calculator soo much because is more easy for them and they don’t have to think. They use the calculator because is the shortest way to do the things and is more fastest. I think calculator is necessary for some cases btu if we have to do a multiplication or a division that we could do by mentaly it isn’t really necessary.
3) At the end of the article the author gives a possible solution to this situation. What is it? Do you agree?
He says that a solution is that we do problems for real life, problems that a lot of people have every day and problems that in the future we’ll have to solve. He gives an example that happens a lot, this is when teenager go on the car and ask to the fathers How long it is? and the fathers answer him in Km and the teenager doesn’t know how to calculate the time it takes. If we solve abstract problems, for what we need it if we can’t solve our real problems?
I’m agree with him.