My math class here at NYU is the only class that disappoints me. I understand that some people don't have a strong grasp of fundamental mathematical concepts, but the reason for it is: colleges and high schools are teaching math INCORRECTLY. We are a society that learns visually and through audio - the more interactive, the better.
In the near future, teachers will need to learn how to engage students with video-based, three-dimensional representations of mathematical functions. If and when that happens, boys and girls alike will quickly come to excel in math and science-based courses. Until that happens, though, we will see yet another generation of students that fail to live up to the achievements of the 1960's and '70's.
Educational stagnation is the worst thing that could happen to anyone.
Unfortunately, it would seem as if educators, at least for now, are scared of anything interactive. When it comes to pictures, movies, or video-game related content, it is all but forbidden inside the classroom. So what's the solution? Either younger teachers need to get into the field sooner, or sometime soon, many people will start calling for urgent reform.
Think about it. What would happen if America fell behind the E.U. In education metrics?
So until then? I might as well start making videos and tutorials that teach this stuff concisely, simply, and in a way where even a 5th-grader could understand the basics of calculus. It CAN be done: my sister knew algebra before she was 7 years old with the same principles.
I watched a TEDtalk the other day where a middle-school teacher was advocating video games as a route to teaching boys in the classroom. I couldn't agree more; NOT because I'm a gamer (I use do to be), but because as a boy, I know that video games are the most visually stimulating material that the world offers today. If public/private institutions want to regain the attention of children in America, they will have to do the gaming industry a one-up.
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