Its not that they cant come up with the easy answer, its the defeatist attitude that doesnt allow them to. I see this so much with minorities in academics. When I mentored and tutored math and science, the first thing I realized is that I was surrounded by bright minds, but the switch was turned off. So the greatest challenge was changing the mindset. After that, learning became easier. The mind shuts down when you put someone on the spot. When you show them that its a spotlight instead of an interrigation beam, the mind works better. Semester after semester, I have helped Ds turn into As, simply by removing the mythology. You cant tell someone that math isnt hard. You have to show them. And in fairness, many educated people still dont get the stoichiometric relationship between speed and distance. For the same reason that most people cant calculate their cars mpg. Even when I tell them to simply divide the miles they just drove by the gallons they just pumped, I still get that glazed math is hard look. Besides, I am curious what questions were asked before this one.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 18:26:05 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015