2 + 2 = ?

At the recent FELC Summit there were plenty of sessions on how to teach culinary math so that those students who struggle with math "get it."  We struggle with teaching this essential skill, in the form of accounting, to our students in our department at Purdue.  No doubt you are struggling with this at your program, too.

If so, consider today's blog message as one way to crack the math code.  One of the reasons that students struggle with math -- no matter the stripe -- is that it is being taught by those who "get it" to those who really do not.  More often than not those who teach math are very good at abstract thinking to a classroom full of students who are concrete learners.  That is why it is very important to not have those who are good at math teach it to those who are not because they will teach it in a way they learn it best and not necessarily a way in which the students will or can learn it.  That was a mouthful!  In other words, there needs to be a math translater who can interpret what the teacher is trying to communicate to those who are not fluent in it.  More important than that, according to Willingham, if the brain does not think it can learn something it will not.  In short, what may seem a simple matter of 2 + 2 = 4 to those who get math and teach it so it makes sense to them find that such is not the case for those who really truly don't see how it all adds up.