Math-ish Finding creativity, diversity, and meaning in mathematics

Math-ish is an invigorating call to reform how we teach mathematics. Math can be creative and beautiful, but you'd never know that from the way it is normally taught. Professional mathematicians report that what is taught in schools has little bearing on the math we need to drive innovation in the real world. Mathematics achievement in U.S. schools has been plummeting since the mid-twentieth century. The traditional methods of rote learning and prescribed formulae don't work and exclude far too many people. These exclusionary methods cost us by keeping different perspectives and ideas out of STEM careers that require advanced mathematics education. Boaler, an education specialist at Stanford University, draws on evidence from educational pedagogy, neuroscience, and psychology to build strong, evidence-based arguments for how we should transform mathematics education and the benefits we could reap. Math should allow for multiple approaches to problem-solving, embrace sensory methods for interacting with concepts, and celebrate the learning that happens when people make mistakes. She presents a future for mathematics that's more creative, diverse, and successful.

This niche analysis from Boaler (Limitless Minds), an education professor at Stanford University, explores strategies for improving how students learn math. Rather than insisting students learn rigid rules from repetitive worksheets, Boaler advocates for math teachers to encourage creative thinking and incorporate open-ended questions and group exercises. Academic studies bolster the advice. For instance, Boaler details an experiment that found first-year college physics students who solved problems as a group and then discussed their work after receiving teacher feedback performed significantly better than peers who learned only from standard lectures. Students should be shown a diverse range of examples that include nonstandard cases, Boaler contends, describing how students at a U.K. high school who were asked to think about loci (she defines locus as "a particular point, position, or place and usually extended to include all the points on a plane that are a certain distance away from a specific place") in relation to triangles, squares, and made-up shapes, in addition to the usual circles and ovals, achieved higher test scores than a comparison cohort. Most strikingly, the changes Boaler promotes show promise in eliminating the racial and gender imbalances that have plagued mathematics instruction for generations. Though the bevy of cartoons illustrating instruction methods strives to keep the proceedings light, this is unlikely to hold appeal outside of education circles. Still, math teachers will find much of use. Illus. (May)