The Reality of Math Education in Indian Schools

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But the reality of math teaching and learning in our schools presents a totally different scenario.

The abstract nature of math concepts, which makes it an ideal vehicle for training in critical thinking, also makes it a difficult discipline to teach.

Concepts are mental constructs. The idea of a prime number may be understood by different people in different ways depending on their experiences and mental capabilities. They cannot be &ldquo;taught&rdquo; through one-way verbal lectures. They have to be &ldquo;caught&rdquo; by students by &ldquo;introspections&rdquo; which are the result of discussions &amp; deep study.

Formation of concepts takes time &amp; effort at any age. The difficulty is that children in the primary school are also developmentally in the &ldquo;concrete operations&rdquo; stage. At this stage, capability of abstract thinking has not fully developed. They learn best through direct experiences of objects &amp; events or though kinaesthetic and visual methods. Even understanding of verbal lectures by teachers is an abstract process, which cannot hold a child&rsquo;s attention for more than a few minutes.

Even computational procedures &amp; algorithms have underlying concepts. If the procedures are taught as step-by-step procedures, then students are forced to memorize them. Since math has such subtle varieties of computations, a slight error can lead to errors. Thus memorizing of procedures ultimately frustrates students.

In spite of all the abstract concepts, the initial experiences in math are related to the physical environment around us. Math also has explorations and surprises which can bring a lot of happiness to children. Children are not motivated by external rewards or opportunities for career advancements. They can be motivated by the sheer joy of math. These opportunities need to be grabbed by teachers.

Another way is to enable children to understand concepts is by mirroring them through materials and let children absorb the visual images. A book cannot be read without the mind forming visual images conjured by the words. Then why should math be presented only through numbers with no accompanying visual images!

Unfortunately teachers themselves do not receive training in teaching abstract concepts in either teacher training colleges or in the schools themselves. Hence they resort to teaching math like any other subject - through the traditional methods of chalk, talk, blackboard, textbooks, class work, homework, examinations &amp; report cards.

Most teachers have no training in psychology of children, psychology of learning &amp; recent developments in neuroscience. Hence they do not understand the importance of intrinsic motivation for children to learn. Hence their teaching methods and the classroom processes do not stimulate motivation for learning.

Hence the reality is that children are unable to grasp math concepts &amp; develop anxiety and even phobia about it. Teachers do not understand how to handle these children and resort to inappropriate classroom &amp; academic processes, which further alienate the children.

The teachers find it easier to train children in standard computational procedures and make them memorize math facts &amp; definitions.

In worst case scenarios, teachers use negative techniques like scolding & sarcasm with children who are unable to understand the math that they teach. This in turn causes math anxiety and pushes children to dislike math.

Even if an odd teacher or a school tries to improve math learning, parents rise against it since the only math they understand is the way they learnt it in their school days. Many also successfully transmit the fear of math they themselves felt as students, to their children.

Due to increasing cost of education, in many private schools, parents are considered as customers. In many cases their opinions on any changes in the education pattern becomes a priority.

As per educational philosophy, school education is about educating students for living in a world 20 years ahead. Since parents usually do not think that far in terms of educational objectives, it is incumbent on schools to educate parents and get their buy-in for any change.

Many parents arrange for tuitions. The tuition classes are exact replicas of the school classrooms. Since they are judged on the basis of their &ldquo;results&rdquo;, many of them resort to unethical practices. Though this may make parents &amp; students happy in the short term, the long term results are not good.

The entire situation is depressing, to say the least.

I have been lucky to be introduced to a different way of understanding and teaching math in the primary school. I relearnt primary math, with a master teacher as I will explain in the next chapter.

< 2.2 Why Math is Best Suited to Develop Thinking Skills | Topic Index | 2.4 How I Relearnt Primary School Math >