How To Make Any 3rd Grader Love Math(mobilelearningblog.com)
mobilelearningblog.com
How To Make Any 3rd Grader Love Math
http://mobilelearningblog.com/2010/10/14/how-to-make-any-3rd-grader-love-math/
11 comments
Ugh! This sounds exactly like pseudo-context as described by Dan Meyer (http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=8002). There are so many awesome things to inspire someone in math, and slapping a popular movie character on rote drills seems like a misguided approach to motivating the challenge. I mean, on the one hand, good for you if you can find some trappings to make doing drills more fun. But while you're getting them to exercise skills, you're really missing out on the deep and fulfilling motivations that exist for math!
That's what I thought of immediately as well, but I'm not sure it's even pseudo-context. Pseudo-context would be "if Hermione cast 5 spells yesterday, and two today, how many in total did she cast?" This is just math drills (another 'technique' that has its supporters and opponents) with a coat of shiny paint, hoping that the paint is pretty enough that a kid will pay attention to it in spite of the math.
I think this approach is self-defeating. You could use it to teach your daughter (or son) to take math quizzes well, but you will never use it to inspire them to appreciate the beauty of math.
In my experience, most of these "make-learning-fun" tools are really about making learning independent enough that parents don't have to participate.
If you want any third grader to love math, have her mom and dad cajole and joke and help and love her while she is learning it.
I learned my multiplication tables because my father would teach me bits of algebra, but only after I could get the flash cards right. He wasn't distracting me, he was rooting for me, showing me the underlying beauty of math, while also demanding I get the basic memorization right.
In my experience, most of these "make-learning-fun" tools are really about making learning independent enough that parents don't have to participate.
If you want any third grader to love math, have her mom and dad cajole and joke and help and love her while she is learning it.
I learned my multiplication tables because my father would teach me bits of algebra, but only after I could get the flash cards right. He wasn't distracting me, he was rooting for me, showing me the underlying beauty of math, while also demanding I get the basic memorization right.
I don't think he spent time making a custom iPad app for his daughter so he could make learning independent enough to not participate. He was merely trying to apply one of his strengths (programming), his background (a startup designing educational games), and background knowledge (knowing his daughter loved Harry Potter) to try to create a better learning experience for his daughter, which is something I think every good educator, whether it's a teacher, parent, or peer, should do. You have to teach people to your strengths and their strengths - if he was an author and chose to teach math to his daughter in the context of elaborate stories and fairy tales, would you call that self-defeating as well?
This reminded me of Randy Pausch's last lecture (if you haven't had a chance to watch it, I highly recommend it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo). Teaching kids is all about headfakes* - you are't encouraging them to play soccer so they can go and play in the World Cup, but rather so they have a fun context to learn about things like hard work, practice, and teamwork. Analogously, I think this personalized Harry Potter app just teaches his daughter that learning doesn't always have to feel like work, not specifically that she should spend all day trying to get praises from Hermoine and British men answering math problems.
* Disclaimer: I don't have kids and know little to nothing about raising or educating kids.
This reminded me of Randy Pausch's last lecture (if you haven't had a chance to watch it, I highly recommend it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo). Teaching kids is all about headfakes* - you are't encouraging them to play soccer so they can go and play in the World Cup, but rather so they have a fun context to learn about things like hard work, practice, and teamwork. Analogously, I think this personalized Harry Potter app just teaches his daughter that learning doesn't always have to feel like work, not specifically that she should spend all day trying to get praises from Hermoine and British men answering math problems.
* Disclaimer: I don't have kids and know little to nothing about raising or educating kids.
>you are't encouraging them to play soccer so they can go and play in the World Cup, but rather so they have a fun context to learn about things like hard work, practice, and teamwork
I'm sure many people (parents|teachers|other educators)see things like sports in this way. Personally I'm teaching my kids football because I enjoy kicking a football around and playing the game - it's not a direct proxy for learning something else, that is not the motivation.
The reason I'm teaching my eldest about maths is because I find it interesting, stimulating and often fun; not because I see it as a gateway to being an accountant or whatever.
Having said that I see nothing novel educationally in the article except the very specific combination of movie franchise + ipad + maths. Remember Britney Spears being used to teach physics a few years ago?
Slightly OT: I don't think his reasons as stated indemnify him from a successful claim of copyright infringement. He chose the specific franchise as a promotional tool both for his blog and for, it seems, KnowPro Apps. This was apparently a decision rooted in the profitable promotion of business entities. The fact that the app he mention itself was created for sole personal use is immaterial. If there is a KnowPro paid for this app in any way then I'd expect a successful suit could follow. IANA©L
I'm sure many people (parents|teachers|other educators)see things like sports in this way. Personally I'm teaching my kids football because I enjoy kicking a football around and playing the game - it's not a direct proxy for learning something else, that is not the motivation.
The reason I'm teaching my eldest about maths is because I find it interesting, stimulating and often fun; not because I see it as a gateway to being an accountant or whatever.
Having said that I see nothing novel educationally in the article except the very specific combination of movie franchise + ipad + maths. Remember Britney Spears being used to teach physics a few years ago?
Slightly OT: I don't think his reasons as stated indemnify him from a successful claim of copyright infringement. He chose the specific franchise as a promotional tool both for his blog and for, it seems, KnowPro Apps. This was apparently a decision rooted in the profitable promotion of business entities. The fact that the app he mention itself was created for sole personal use is immaterial. If there is a KnowPro paid for this app in any way then I'd expect a successful suit could follow. IANA©L
Thanks for your feedback.
I think the novelty comes in exactly what you state, and I think that the educational system relies too heavily on the status quo. There would be nothing wrong with a classroom posting pictures of Harry Potter and couching a lesson in the Harry Potter clothes in order to drive more student involvement. It's no different than when Jeopardy was popular 10 years ago and Jeopardy-like student challenges spread across schools.
With respect to the copyright infringement aspect, I hope that is not the case. I believe that many people are visual learners and seeing an example can have a much more powerful result than a mere description. It was with that intention that I posted the video. I do not plan to distribute the app as that would clearly be in copyright violation.
I think the novelty comes in exactly what you state, and I think that the educational system relies too heavily on the status quo. There would be nothing wrong with a classroom posting pictures of Harry Potter and couching a lesson in the Harry Potter clothes in order to drive more student involvement. It's no different than when Jeopardy was popular 10 years ago and Jeopardy-like student challenges spread across schools.
With respect to the copyright infringement aspect, I hope that is not the case. I believe that many people are visual learners and seeing an example can have a much more powerful result than a mere description. It was with that intention that I posted the video. I do not plan to distribute the app as that would clearly be in copyright violation.
Great points. There are 2+ ways to view everything. I appreciate your input! :)
I'm the founder of KnowPro, creator of the Hermione Granger math app, and writer of the blog. Thanks for your comments.
I agree that my simple app will not help my daughter appreciate the beauty of math. I'm an engineer and I think I've nearly seen the beauty myself, but in the end I'm afraid that finals scared it away.
I'd love to help my daughter attain what has alluded me all these years, but the rote mathematical drills of simple addition are not where she's going to find it. I can only hope that she spends more time practicing and masters these basic skills sooner. That was my intention with this simple app.
Your comments are spot on with many parents. I think many defer their parental responsibilities to the PBS channel on TV or to teachers at school or in their religious organization. I, however, beam when I see how happy my daughter is playing the game, and I cannot wait until she comes home from school so we can play the game together (or more precisely, I can watch her while she plays). I think there's nothing more important than spending time with kids for their development.
It sounds like you and your father had some special times that remain memorable to this date. I hope that every child and parent could share such an experience.
Thanks for your comments. They made me think.
I agree that my simple app will not help my daughter appreciate the beauty of math. I'm an engineer and I think I've nearly seen the beauty myself, but in the end I'm afraid that finals scared it away.
I'd love to help my daughter attain what has alluded me all these years, but the rote mathematical drills of simple addition are not where she's going to find it. I can only hope that she spends more time practicing and masters these basic skills sooner. That was my intention with this simple app.
Your comments are spot on with many parents. I think many defer their parental responsibilities to the PBS channel on TV or to teachers at school or in their religious organization. I, however, beam when I see how happy my daughter is playing the game, and I cannot wait until she comes home from school so we can play the game together (or more precisely, I can watch her while she plays). I think there's nothing more important than spending time with kids for their development.
It sounds like you and your father had some special times that remain memorable to this date. I hope that every child and parent could share such an experience.
Thanks for your comments. They made me think.
True, but I'm not sure it matters. This is 3rd grade math. tesseract (an apt name) already posted a link to Lockhart's Lament, and I tend to agree with that, but I also think that before you can really get into the "beauty" of math you need to have a firm, memorized command of basic addition and multiplication, because it is not possible to see the beauty of math if you are looking at a beautiful equation for Newtonian motion and have not got "multiplication by one half" so firmly internalized that you don't even feel yourself trying to remember what it means.
> you will never use it to inspire them to appreciate the beauty of math.
http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf
http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf
Ultimately what matters is time spent doing math. In the short term this seems to have created a powerful motivation for his daughter to do math, which is something a lot of parents would kill for.
If in the long term this were to somehow remove motivation for math then you'd be correct. However I submit that the 'beauty' in math is discovered farther down the line and that if you've already got basic sums and multiplication under your belt from hundreds of hours of repetition the barrier to entry is much much lower.
If in the long term this were to somehow remove motivation for math then you'd be correct. However I submit that the 'beauty' in math is discovered farther down the line and that if you've already got basic sums and multiplication under your belt from hundreds of hours of repetition the barrier to entry is much much lower.
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So I actually did spend some time to create IPad apps for my kids to help them learn math (Beginning Math and Times Table Helper -- for sale on the app store now :).
Couple of things I don't like here: 1. First thing I see is time math quizzes. Timed math tests are flat out evil. I'm thinking of the 60 problems in 60 seconds variety I had as a 3rd graders (and failed). Don't do this to your kids. Let them go at their own pace.
2. That is a lot of distractions. If you have ever dealt with dyslexic kids (prone to mentally wander off -- and I am dyslexic as well), this is not helpful.
Not all electronic learning software needs to be game oriented.
Couple of things I don't like here: 1. First thing I see is time math quizzes. Timed math tests are flat out evil. I'm thinking of the 60 problems in 60 seconds variety I had as a 3rd graders (and failed). Don't do this to your kids. Let them go at their own pace.
2. That is a lot of distractions. If you have ever dealt with dyslexic kids (prone to mentally wander off -- and I am dyslexic as well), this is not helpful.
Not all electronic learning software needs to be game oriented.
Harry Potter aside, any child whose parents are this involved will be a smashing success.
Leap Frog is already one step ahead of him with that one: http://www.leapfrog.com/gaming/didj/
You can plug it in to the computer and personalize the learning content, i.e. enter your kid's spelling words for that week, or a specific set of math problems, etc. Doing good in the games unlocks points they can redeem to earn custom game backgrounds, characters, and so on. There are a handful of games for the system, Spongebob, LEGO, Star Wars, maybe even a Harry Potter.
It's kind of a neat system (but a bit buggy). I don't think it works particularly well for teaching, but for doing drills on the stuff that just has to be memorized, like basic math facts and spelling, I think it serves its purpose.
What made my 3rd grader love math (it's her favorite subject) was understanding the hows and whys behind it and seeing some practical application of it. The more complicated it is, the more she likes it, and so she memorized the basic facts in order to get to the good bits. I'm not entirely convinced, though, that this is typical 8yr old behavior.
You can plug it in to the computer and personalize the learning content, i.e. enter your kid's spelling words for that week, or a specific set of math problems, etc. Doing good in the games unlocks points they can redeem to earn custom game backgrounds, characters, and so on. There are a handful of games for the system, Spongebob, LEGO, Star Wars, maybe even a Harry Potter.
It's kind of a neat system (but a bit buggy). I don't think it works particularly well for teaching, but for doing drills on the stuff that just has to be memorized, like basic math facts and spelling, I think it serves its purpose.
What made my 3rd grader love math (it's her favorite subject) was understanding the hows and whys behind it and seeing some practical application of it. The more complicated it is, the more she likes it, and so she memorized the basic facts in order to get to the good bits. I'm not entirely convinced, though, that this is typical 8yr old behavior.
In general I don't like this approach to learning. I feel like it's counter to the rule that you shouldn't reward kids for things they should be expected to do.
That being said, he says clearly that this is about learning math facts. The are the one rote part left in the early math curriculum. It's going to be painful for most kids. I know this from very recent experience. Anything you can do to help I think is advantageous.
He should not have titled his post as he did. It should have been titled "How to get any 3rd grader to learn their math facts more efficiently". I think that's what he meant to say anyway.
That being said, he says clearly that this is about learning math facts. The are the one rote part left in the early math curriculum. It's going to be painful for most kids. I know this from very recent experience. Anything you can do to help I think is advantageous.
He should not have titled his post as he did. It should have been titled "How to get any 3rd grader to learn their math facts more efficiently". I think that's what he meant to say anyway.
My wife and I agree that we should not reward our children for things we consider a requirement of being a part of our family: education, chores, charity, manners, etc.
That being said, I think there's no reason why kids can't have more fun while they're learning. And if it helps them study/practice longer, what's the harm?
I agree that your title is more exacting. :)
That being said, I think there's no reason why kids can't have more fun while they're learning. And if it helps them study/practice longer, what's the harm?
I agree that your title is more exacting. :)
The problem isn't any individual 3rd grader, the problem is the nearly society-wide acceptance of innumeracy, sometimes even approval of innumeracy. I think this will be one of the factors limiting (economic) growth in the future.
I love the idea of personalized education.
My daughters, who LOVE Harry Potter, would kill to have that app too! :)
My daughters, who LOVE Harry Potter, would kill to have that app too! :)
This would be a bit more fun with word problems involving the time turner, potions, etc.
"Fluffy has three heads, and each head can eat two bowls in a sitting...how many bowls should Hermione fill to satisfy him?"
"Fluffy has three heads, and each head can eat two bowls in a sitting...how many bowls should Hermione fill to satisfy him?"
That's a great idea! I may try to incorporate some word problems into the app to tie together reading comprehension with basic math skills.
In the video, is the guy saying "brilliant!" a sample from a Guinness commercial? Well played.
From http://mobilelearningblog.com/2010/10/14/how-to-make-any-3rd...:
The Hermione Granger math app that was created was purely for individual use. This app will not be distributed, sold, shared or otherwise provided publicly. We respect the rights of copyright holders.
That just makes me sad.
The Hermione Granger math app that was created was purely for individual use. This app will not be distributed, sold, shared or otherwise provided publicly. We respect the rights of copyright holders.
That just makes me sad.
Having worked, tangentially, on a Harry Potter Video game I can tell you that if the Harry Potter machine thought it could make money from such a title it would be in every app store on the planet.