I consider myself an infographic enthusiast, and as a former middle school math teacher when the infographic below was passed on to me I was of course interested:
It was encouraging to see 7 out of 10 students liked math, but out of 1000 surveyed students, that means there are about 300 that don’t; and that isn’t so encouraging. Scrolling down to Top Favorite Subjects, I was again hopeful when seeing math ranked third.
While that alone was pleasing to a former math teacher, I was also excited to see that P.E. and art ranked one and two respectively. I’m a firm believer that exercise boosts learning, and I don’t think I need to make a case for the connections between art, creativity, and math. I wasn’t surprised to see that students enjoy learning new subjects through hands-on activities, but what the Infographic leaves out is that only 4% of surveyed students enjoy learning new subjects through video lessons. During this revolution of flipped instruction, that 4% seems a little concerning.
So, what is my big takeaway from this Infographic? Relevance.
With only 58% of students reporting that math is important for their future, we don’t seem to be doing a good job of promoting authentic relevance to students’ lives. I don’t put much weight into the statistic that 38% of students think math is important for fashion design. What if I don’t care about fashion design? I’m certainly not going to care then about the necessary skills behind fashion design.
So how is math relevant to your students? And what can you do to support that connection?
"Ninajifikiria kuwa mpenzi wa infographic, na kama mwalimu wa zamani wa hesabu wa shule ya sekondari wakati infographic hapa chini ilipopitishwa kwangu, bila shaka nilivutiwa: ""Ilikuwa ya kutia moyo kuona wanafunzi saba kati ya kumi walipenda hisabati, lakini kati ya wanafunzi elfu moja waliochunguzwa, hiyo inamaanisha kuna karibu 300 ambao hawapendi.""" Nilipokuwa nikichunguza masomo niliyopenda zaidi, nilipata tumaini tena nilipotazama hesabu zikiwa katika nafasi ya tatu. Ingawa hilo lilimfurahisha mwalimu mmoja wa zamani wa hesabu, nilivutiwa pia kuona kwamba P.E. na sanaa waliorodheshwa kwanza na pili kwa mtiririko huo. Mimi ni muumini thabiti kwamba mazoezi huongeza kujifunza, na sidhani kama ninahitaji kufanya kesi kwa ajili ya uhusiano kati ya sanaa, ubunifu, na hisabati. """Sikushangaa kuona kwamba wanafunzi wanafurahia kujifunza masomo mapya kupitia shughuli za mikono, lakini kile Infographic inaachwa ni kwamba ni 4% tu ya wanafunzi waliohojiwa wanafurahia kujifunza masomo mapya kupitia masomo ya video." Katika kipindi hiki cha mabadiliko ya elimu, asilimia 4 hiyo inaonekana kuwa yenye kusumbua. Ni nini muhimu zaidi cha kuchukua kutoka kwa infographic hii? Uhusiano wa maana. Kwa kuwa ni wanafunzi 58% tu wanaoripoti kwamba hisabati ni muhimu kwa siku zao za baadaye, haionekani kuwa tunafanya kazi nzuri ya kukuza umuhimu halisi kwa maisha ya wanafunzi. Kwa mfano, katika utafiti wa mwaka huu, asilimia 38 ya wanafunzi wanaamini kwamba hesabu ni muhimu kwa kubuni mitindo. Namna gani ikiwa sijali kuhusu kubuni mitindo? Mimi hakika si kwenda kujali basi kuhusu ujuzi muhimu nyuma ya kubuni mitindo. Kwa nini hesabu ni muhimu kwa wanafunzi wako? Na unaweza kufanya nini ili kuunga mkono uhusiano huo?