| Math Mojo - Making Math Meaningful |
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Basic Math Why do we need Logic? Why don't Schools Teach this? |
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Who Made this Site, Anyway? |
The Math Mojo "Manifesto"Almost everyone feels that they could be better at math than they already are. And they are right!
Do you have a definition of math that makes sense to you? Probably not. Why not? Isn't it crazy that they spend so much time trying to teach you math in school, and they don't even help you understand what it is?
We are usually taught math as a "subject" in school. Math is so much more than that! It is philosophy, art, entertainment, and more.
We are usually taught that there is "one way" to get an answer. That is one of the worst things you can tell someone. First of all, it is not true! For instance, there are hundreds and hundreds of ways to multiply. And one of the worst ways is to torture yourself with the "tables" and rote memory.
Second of all, even if there were "one best way" to get an answer, it would surely not be the one they teach you in school.
Math Mojo uses lots of ways to do the operations of math that are much more inspiring than memorizing some boring stuff and taking senseless tests.
Math Mojo is dedicated to making math about how you view your world, not how teachers view you. My priority is not teachers. My priority is your relationship to reality.
Math can be a great tool for understanding the world. And the world is not math tests. The world is much cooler than that!
I am a Hunchback
by Robert Louis Stevenson.I am a hunchback, yellow faced,
A hateful sight to see,
'Tis all that other men can do
To pass and let me be.
I am a woman, my hair is white,
I was a darkhaired lass;
The gin dances in my head,
I stumble as I pass.
I am a man that God made at first,
And teachers tried to harm,
Here! hunchback take my friendly hand,
Good woman, take my arm.
Before any teachers take offense at the above, let me explain:
Although there is something terribly wrong with the teaching profession in the U.S. today, I don't think the fault lies with the teachers. It lies further up the chain, and resides pretty firmly where the money is the highest (textbook lobbyists, policy-makers, etc.) It's also firmly entrenched right where you had trouble with it - in the hearts and minds of the petty administrators who want don't understand the teacher's or the student's plights. It is the small-mindedness of the bureaucracy that is destroying what is, at it's core, one of the noblest professions of all.
Stevenson was of a different age, when teachers had absolute rein. I think what he'd be railing against today is not teachers, but the "education establishment." It hurts teachers as well as students.
Copyright 2001- 2009 by Brian Foley
report typographical errors or broken linksMath Mojo is part of Magic and Learning - a company that uses methods of magicians to teach thinking skills.