Battleground Schools: Response

The Battleground Schools article reveals some key aspects of mathematics education. While reading this article, one thing that intrigued me was the idea of “programming the environment”. I think the best way to learn math is by having students use inquiry and providing them with hands-on material rather than having students sit and listen to the teacher lecture. I was taught math by just having the teacher talk and I would zone out about halfway through the lesson. I was never really engaged with my learning so I think it’s very important to facilitate a class where there is that use of inquiry. Another thing that made me stop while reading was the problems parents faced when helping their children with the new curriculum. I can resonate with this as my parents learned different math techniques which made it difficult for them to help me with my homework. I also found the tables showing the opposing arguments for teaching math interesting. I liked how I could compare the conservative vs progressive for each area of interest. I was able to see in which areas I show more conservative and other areas where I was more progressive.