Millennials and Critical Thinking/Maths Ability

Pre-College Topics High School Life
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I agree with what some posters have already stated, that a general understanding of numbers and how the operations affect them is seriously lacking.

I don’t think students should have calculators on a regular basis before around algebra 1 or the equivalent-- I can’t believe some elementary school kids are allowed to use calculators! I’m not saying that algebra 1 students should be given calculators, necessarily-- just that it’s probably unreasonable prior to then.

The technology can definitely help students learn, I think it’s a shame that it’s not used in beneficial ways more often (in my classes, that is). We did flipped lessons where students had to watch videos made by the teacher, and I think the idea is good in theory, but if students don’t watch the videos and do the notes, it’s not too effective.

I haven’t really looked at it thoroughly, but I bookmarked this website: http://tube.geogebra.org

I really like the idea of using animations to show the concepts, and the interactive element of some of them is even better. So that’s one example of technology that’s useful to teach math.

A time when calculators could be used for the students’ benefit: if the students make the calculators themselves! I use an app called iFormula to make calculators for repetitive calculations all the time. For example, I made one that gives the area of a regular polygon, given the side length and number of sides. I don’t want to forget how to do the problems, so I still work them out for homework and everything, but I’ll check my answer with my calculator. No coding knowledge is required, which is convenient for me since I don’t know any coding. To create a calculator like this, the student needs to be able to solve the problems abstractly and identify where each number comes from.

I also think that mathematical curiosity should be actively encouraged. That’s one of my favorites parts of math. I love noticing a pattern or getting a hunch about something then testing it.

I don’t think I can speak about if people have gotten better or worse at math, seeing as I haven’t been on this planet long enough to see other generations. So, this is all just my two cents on current math education.

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@DogsAndMath23 I suppose we should make students at least try to develop basic mental math skills, but honestly I think computational ability is a grossly overrated skill that shouldn’t be emphasized in schools or universities. Sure, it can come in handy in practical situations when you’re trying to calculate your bills and don’t have a calculator lying around at the moment, but it doesn’t really facilitate the critical thinking skills that academia is supposed to teach you. Give them a class or two on mental math tricks and multiplication/division skills and be over with it. (I guess there’s the catch-22 that grade schools want to keep teaching it because it comes in handy in university)

Even analytical math beyond basic algebra is something that is almost exclusively used in academia. What is important is the logic and the conceptual thinking, which you can really breeze all the way through calculus without understanding at all. Most people will never have to solve an integral in their lives, but everybody could benefit from being able to view the world in a quantitative and logical framework - nobody really does this.

If we had the qualified teachers, I think we should start teaching a few classes to facilitate this manner of thinking:

Logic - teach kids logical fallacies, but focus on the concepts, not just the latin names.
Ethics - have kids learn about different ethical philosophies and their underlying premises.
Statistics - seriously, how many people don’t understand the first thing about this?
The Scientific Method - it is probably the single greatest intellectual achievement in our history, and I don’t think memorizing the anatomy of the human body helps you learn it
Marketing - or more specifically, how marketers can bullshit you