Many of us have a love/hate relationship with math. And depending on your students’ ages, they may have thoroughly convinced themselves that they hate it or are no good at it. If that’s the case, we have all the more responsibility to help our students see the bigger picture and the true beauty behind the numbers, starting with our own attitude.
This is easily the most phenomenal mathematics video I’ve ever watched. Share it with your students to provoke inquiry and appreciation for math–and at only 1:41 minutes, don’t be afraid to play it again and again as the conversation deepens and understanding sinks in.
Provocation Questions:
- What if we didn’t have a number system? (thanks Graeme Anshaw for sharing this excellent provocation)
- Why do people decide they “don’t like math?”
- What are the origins of math in human history?
- What difference does it make in a person’s life to see him/herself as a mathematician?
featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto.com
Come back next Monday for another “Inspiring Inquiry” post. Read here for the rest of my weekly blogging topic schedule/background.
Thanks, Mary. It is really important to foster positive attitudes towards maths. I enjoyed the video you shared. I can see how it would stimulate a lot of discussion with older children (as opposed to my early childhood ones). When you mentioned a favourite maths video, I thought you were going to talk about some of Arthur Benjamin’s videos on TED. Have you seen any? Here is a link to one that especially fascinates me. (I hope it works. If not Google mathemagician TED): https://www.ted.com/talks/arthur_benjamin_does_mathemagic?language=en
I hadn’t! Thanks for sharing!!