We live in a society that normalizes math illiteracy. It is normal to hear confirmations from our peers, that being “bad” at math is ok because math is a difficult subject. Parents working with their children will often, unknowingly, perpetuate anti math bias by saying things like, “I was never a math person.” Math, more than any other core subject, elicits a fear from students that seems to be generationally inherited. Math proficiency is incorrectly attributed to parent’s ability, anomalies in superior intellect and gender or racial stereotypes. All of this, to pacify the nagging voice of our math teachers reminding us that, like most things in life, math is a subject that one must be practice to become better at. Sadly it is much easier to blame math - the cognitive load boogyman, for being inherently too difficult rather than realize critical thinking requires practice.
I began my research looking into math anxiety and found that there was a negative correlation between math anxiety and performance in my course - a higher level of math anxiety predicted a lower performance grade on assessments. After confirming this correlation I determined students with high math anxiety were avoiding experiences that would help them to get better at math. My students were avoiding homework and outside practice because, outside of the classroom, they had no confidence in their ability to do math. At this point I looked into creating a flipped classroom in an attempt to boost my students confidence outside of class with video tutorials and instructional aid, and then monitoring their math practice in the classroom with critical thinking and repetitive drill/kill style exercises. I saw my students getting more practice, feeling more confident and grateful that they had a resource they could turn to in my video tutorials. Changing the structure of my class from a traditional lecture - notes - homework, format to tutorial - lecture - notes - critical thinking - practice reduced my students math anxiety and allowed them the confidence to get better at math. After I have finished my masters I want to continue refining my modified flipped classroom model. I still enjoy lecturing in class and I know that my students enjoy the method of note taking that I have developed. I want to build in more opportunities for enrichment and critical thinking aside from just having students work on problem sets in class while I circulate. If I am able to find success with this model, improved test scores on the MI/CAASPP as well as grades in my course, then I would feel compelled to bring my findings to my department, my campus and then to the district level. Any significant instructional change takes time and commitment from those leading the change to ensure it is authentically better for students. I am committed to exploring a flipped classroom next year in order to get more rounds of data. I think that with the increased push for technology use on our campus as well as the availability of chromebooks for students to check out, I will find success.
1 Comment
JP
6/12/2019 02:47:20 pm
I think what you are doing is great. We share quite a few students, and even just other students often comment how math is a terrible subject for them. They are sometimes often seen working on math homework in my class. So anything and everything you are doing to help alleviate some of that stress and anxiety associated with math will help. I am encouraged by your desire to flip your classroom as I will be adding some of those elements into my class as well.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Brandon DeJesusMath Archives
July 2019
Categories |