Feeling kind of down because a student was crying about her test.
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Feeling kind of down because a student was crying about her test. She's been working very hard but the proofs just aren't coming together for her.
@futurebird My first year teaching, in the first test I gave my AP chemistry class, half of them cried during the test because this class of high achievers never saw something they couldn't figure out like this.
Oops. Learned a lot from that one. It helped me to figure out what was missing from how I was teaching.
Only 2 kids cried during the midterm. (But that school/program was messed up. I don't think it was just me.)
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@futurebird My first year teaching, in the first test I gave my AP chemistry class, half of them cried during the test because this class of high achievers never saw something they couldn't figure out like this.
Oops. Learned a lot from that one. It helped me to figure out what was missing from how I was teaching.
Only 2 kids cried during the midterm. (But that school/program was messed up. I don't think it was just me.)
@mayintoronto @futurebird brutal
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@mayintoronto @futurebird brutal
@paninid This was in China, and these kids were woefully unequipped to take on any science in English, let alone AP chem.
Science education is fundamentally different in China, and there was a lot of reteaching to be done. Then add on the language barrier, plus the stresses of that program of needing to finish 2 high school diploma equivalents in multiple languages... I don't envy them.
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@futurebird My first year teaching, in the first test I gave my AP chemistry class, half of them cried during the test because this class of high achievers never saw something they couldn't figure out like this.
Oops. Learned a lot from that one. It helped me to figure out what was missing from how I was teaching.
Only 2 kids cried during the midterm. (But that school/program was messed up. I don't think it was just me.)
I decided not to give a "proof quiz" (I kind of hate using class time for testing, but testing is also important) so some of them didn't pay attention to the very ominous comments I'd been putting on their homework.
She's a really great kid and I think she'll get it soon enough.
That said the school I teach at has a very aggressive curriculum. Mostly the students want it and enjoy it but they want to do well so when they don't it's a huge blow.
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@paninid This was in China, and these kids were woefully unequipped to take on any science in English, let alone AP chem.
Science education is fundamentally different in China, and there was a lot of reteaching to be done. Then add on the language barrier, plus the stresses of that program of needing to finish 2 high school diploma equivalents in multiple languages... I don't envy them.
We get some international students who are algebra and computation masterminds, but some of the "explain your reasoning" is very alien. It's not that they don't think logically ... parsing it out is just alien.
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Feeling kind of down because a student was crying about her test. She's been working very hard but the proofs just aren't coming together for her.
@futurebird I could use calculus functionally, but proofs never clicked for me. I never understood what d/dx meant until long after I was away from calculus.
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@futurebird I could use calculus functionally, but proofs never clicked for me. I never understood what d/dx meant until long after I was away from calculus.
"I never understood what d/dx meant until long after I was away from calculus"
Frankly I think this is true of most people who take calculus. It's not really explained well. Too much time is spent learning "methods" that matter even less than ever. Although there are people working to improve this.
Really knowing what the d/dx and dy/dx is all about IS the point.
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F myrmepropagandist shared this topic
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"I never understood what d/dx meant until long after I was away from calculus"
Frankly I think this is true of most people who take calculus. It's not really explained well. Too much time is spent learning "methods" that matter even less than ever. Although there are people working to improve this.
Really knowing what the d/dx and dy/dx is all about IS the point.
But, there is also another matter:
New concepts need time to sink in. You learn a new concept and then you need to use it right away, then we move on.
The class that made me cry was Complex Analysis. I was so frustrated by "poles.". But then a decade later when I looked at my notes I cried AGAIN because it was all so simple I couldn't understand how I'd ever been so upset about it.
Of course, by then I'd used it to do things, seen in many contexts. Dreamed about it.
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Contrary to popular belief, there is a LOT of crying in mathematics.
I've see it in grad school.
@futurebird I wish they were tears of joy, which can be a byproduct of new and profound understanding. But there are other worthy fields of study if mathematics is not one’s forte.
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@futurebird I wish they were tears of joy, which can be a byproduct of new and profound understanding. But there are other worthy fields of study if mathematics is not one’s forte.
Math can make very clever people who are accustomed to running circles around others mentally feel totally clueless and lost. And it can happen out of nowhere, if, for example your prof assumes you know all about some topic and launches off in a new direction.
There is a meme where two guys are taking notes in math and bored since the teacher is writing 2+2 on the board. They blink and suddenly the board is full of arcane symbols from the pit of hell.
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Math can make very clever people who are accustomed to running circles around others mentally feel totally clueless and lost. And it can happen out of nowhere, if, for example your prof assumes you know all about some topic and launches off in a new direction.
There is a meme where two guys are taking notes in math and bored since the teacher is writing 2+2 on the board. They blink and suddenly the board is full of arcane symbols from the pit of hell.
All I can do as a teacher is watch for signs this has happened.
Also... if a math person is talking about 2+2 with great care... be warned, they are trying to find an easy way in to the deep end. There is probably a horrible little wrinkle.
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But, there is also another matter:
New concepts need time to sink in. You learn a new concept and then you need to use it right away, then we move on.
The class that made me cry was Complex Analysis. I was so frustrated by "poles.". But then a decade later when I looked at my notes I cried AGAIN because it was all so simple I couldn't understand how I'd ever been so upset about it.
Of course, by then I'd used it to do things, seen in many contexts. Dreamed about it.
@futurebird @jhavok I always did poorly in math classes because I needed two to four more weeks of just practicing doing problems and applying it and learning the next stuff for the last thing to make sense.
I couldn't pass a test on what I learned yesterday or even last week, because I only started understanding last month's material after what we did yesterday.
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"I never understood what d/dx meant until long after I was away from calculus"
Frankly I think this is true of most people who take calculus. It's not really explained well. Too much time is spent learning "methods" that matter even less than ever. Although there are people working to improve this.
Really knowing what the d/dx and dy/dx is all about IS the point.
@futurebird @jhavok
I guess for me it all started with seeing speed as change in position per unit time. Position is 𝑥, time is 𝑡, 𝑑 is change, and / is the relationship between the two, and so speed is 𝑑𝑥/𝑑𝑡 .And then seeing acceleration as change in speed per unit time.
