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8 November 2006

Fixing Math Education by Making It Less Enjoyable?

Justin Grimmer

In a recent Brookings Institution report on the mathematics scores of junior high and high school students from different nations uncovers some paradoxical correlations. Using standardized test scores, the report shows that nations with the highest scores also have the students with the lowest confidence in their math ability and the lowest levels of enjoyment from learning math. This is evident in American students, with high confidence and enjoyment, but only with middle-of-the-pack scores on standardized tests.

Casting correlation/causation concerns aside, the Brookings report goes on to argue that the American mathematical education experience is perhaps too enjoyable for students. Rather than informing students about the important mathematical concepts that the foreign textbooks provide, American textbooks are characterized as trying too hard to create an enjoyable classroom experience.

The policy implication provided is to make mathematics less enjoyable in American classrooms by discarding colorful pictures and interesting story problems. At the very least, the report suggests that educator’s attention should be redirected from making math fun to making math education solely about mathematics.

Because of the study’s limited nature, any drastic policy recommendations should be avoided. After all, the report’s argument merely identifies two paradoxical relationships and then speculates a causal mechanism that provides one potential explanation for the trend. No effort is made to eliminate other alternative causal mechanisms. For example, cultural explanations could explain the discrepancy of the scores and confidence ratings, aside from differences in teaching methodologies. The study also attempts to make an ecological inference, inferring individual level behavior from aggregated data. While not damming in itself, it does weaken the strength of the conclusions.

That being said, perhaps the problem with American mathematics education does not lie in the attempt to make students happy, but in the material that is presented. Rather than providing students with an in depth understanding of concepts and introducing proof techniques, high school math assignments are often about memorization and a superficial knowledge of the techniques involved. Perhaps, if the focus were changed to make high school mathematics less like balancing a check book and more like Real Analysis, American math students would see an increase in their happiness in the classroom and also their test scores.

Posted by Justin Grimmer at 11:51 AM