@StephenBoothUK

The problem I’ve found with how Maths is taught, and to a lesser extent other STEM subjects, is fundamental to how Maths is structured.  In Maths each topic builds on the ones that came before.  You need to understand counting before you can understand addition and subtraction, you need to understand addition before you can understand multiplication, you need to understand multiplication before you can understand division, you need to understand all 4 of those basic operations before you can understand geometry and algebra, you need to understand geometry and algebra to understand trigonometry, you need to understand trigonometry to understand calculus &c.  You don’t find that to the same degree in most other subjects.  You don’t need a thorough understanding of the 100 years war to understand Tudor England, whilst a decent understanding of Tudor England may help understanding of the English Civil war you can get by without it.  In Geography knowledge of how glaciers shaped Northern European isn’t needed to understand the principle exports of South Africa or what the different sorts of clouds are.

Maths is like a wall built of bricks whilst many other subjects are similar bricks scattered about.  In Maths if you are missing a brick (maybe you missed that class due to illness or changing schools) or is damaged (maybe your teacher didn’t explain something in a way that clicked with you and didn’t give proper feedback when you got answers wrong in tests/homework, then had barrelled on to the next topic) then every brick (topic) that relies on that is weaker.  At first you can get by, but as the damaged bricks and holes accumulate you find it harder and harder to understand each topic.  A common experience for people who struggle with maths is that it all made sense up to a point, then it stopped making sense.  That point often correlates to a life change such as changing school of a period of sickness.

@lars14701

I was not familiar with this book prior to your video. Thank you!

@aromview

Math can be rewarding, but most people end up getting lost because instructors tend assume everyone knows and just go n ahead with the lectures

@user-rm2qj2jh4l

"People can do hard things if they want to, and if they feel supported". So good!!

@goofygorillazsvr

Your calm disposition makes it less stressful for sure 😊

@ferdievanschalkwyk1669

Classical math teaching, is both abstract and prescriptive. This approach gets rid of the prescriptive portion, but the abstract portion is still there. That is the portion many people struggle with.

Maths only really "clicked" for me, when it was taught the way it was discovered. First starting with ways to approximate with fair accuracy and then learning more sophisticated methods as increased accuracy is required.

Even now, in computing, we use approximations to a large degree for greater efficiency, so that computational power can be expended on more important tasks.

@jakobklug4978

i had an excellent math teacher.... he started explaining that most math won't be necessary in most of our futures - but that it helps train complex logical patterns

@gebruikerarjan

As a math teacher i myself learnd it by reading the solution to problems, but it was a struggle to get enough solutions because a lot of teachers think you give the principal and the proof and then you can solve the problems....but not everyone has time or patience to think about a problem for days etc...learning math is like walking through an unknown city and learn your way by walking a lot of different paths and getting to know what you see around, but its a like a language to. Give students a lot of paths in the mind or story's in the new language (a lot of solutions to mathproblems). Every branch of math is like a different language to or a different landscape (from the city to the mountains)

@trayne5151

I remember taking calculus in high school, my teacher sent us out around the school to create and solve a problem using calculus. I did a problem of the tip of a persons shadow as they run towards, under, and past a streetlight. Using some calculus and trig an assuming a constant pace for the runner, I was able to find an equation to represent the tip of the shadow throughout that process. I loved that class. 

I'm the opposite to most people (in my social groups) in math though, it didn't make full sense to me until I took my first geometry course with proofs. Most people I talk to started having a hard time when the curriculum got to geometry, but I found it began clicking with me when I got to that point.

@umarus2

Once, I covered an art class and saw how students interact. The students even invited me to join them. Although my artistic skills are almost non-existent, I painted a piece of paper motivated by their encouragement. Since then I have been considering implementing this approach (I believe this was the case in Ancient Greece and the Middle East.). However, one of the biggest obstacles to enjoying mathematics classes is the amount of content and limited time

@jorgetorresramos902

Beautiful video. The shorter side of the rectangle is the one that should be labeled flower minus one, and the longer one flower.

@arbiforumnow

I have to tell you as an artist who struggled with mathematics even in college I love your channel! You make me feel like I could gain from studying it again!

@pingupenguin2474

My Ah ha moment was when I did physics, the day we rolled balls down a shute and plotted time/ distance. Then plotted the results. The teacher pointed out the maths pattern on a cartesian graphs and told us what equation matched it. The maths teacher reminded us how to recognise their associated equations for other graph shapes ( inc. Sine waves). Seeing the physics scatterplot and recognising the matching equation for that expirement ( and those of subsequent physics and chemistry expirements) I began to understand the point of higher level maths. Seeing the teachers use these recognised graph patterns to identify equations, and employ these with calculus to predict actual physical results beyond our test range was a revelation !

@tcjpn

Great perspective on being creative and promoting creativity in any endeavor. (Don't forget the yin and yang, the joy and pain, in the struggle that can accompany being creative. For me surfing serves as a good metaphor.)

@gaius_enceladus

I just never really got to grips with mathematical proofs.  
I think that one reason for this is that I only really started doing them when starting calculus, and I think you need to start learning about how to do proofs much earlier than that.  
I think proofs would be a lot easier to understand if (say) you were given the set of rules that govern triangles.  
Those would be your "tools".  You'd learn those "off by heart" and then you'd make a gentle start on creating a proof using those "tools".  
The same with circles and the rules that govern them (chords, tangents etc).  
I think simple geometry would be a good place to start learning about proofs.  
I think shapes would be a lot less intimidating to people than numbers can be.

@protocol6

I've felt for long time it might be better to bring back compass and straightedge construction and proofs quite early and then introduce abstract algebras in that context.

@Lance54689

This explains a lot. I've always been the odd "Math Guy". People seem to think I'm solving math problems from a text book, and I explain "No, no, math isn't about numbers, it is something I play around with in my head." Naturally I was good in math class, but that was because I turned it into something like this. Somehow I intuitively understood what "math" was about. Maybe I'm not all that bad at art after all, its just that my art is math!

@brentsoper345

So much fun this way - I loved the flower to demystify algebra symbols! A  nice way to find what the flower is!

@vivekpujaravp

Phenomenal presentation and book recommendation. Please do more like this.

@supergirl1892

Your Voice is so Soothing, and comforting ...maths anxiety took the back bench...😂😂😂