Matemática y Educación Matemática: poderosas y atrevidas | Mabel Rodríguez | TEDxParqueSanCarlos

Summary

The speaker reflects on their journey of choosing a university major, ultimately embracing mathematics due to a fascination with its complexity and problem-solving nature. Despite initial challenges as a teacher, where students struggled with exams, they discovered the power of mathematics and its applications in everyday life. The speaker delves into the disconnect between academic mathematics and its teaching, advocating for an approach that better connects with students and reflects the real-world relevance and excitement of the subject.

Takeaways

• 🤔 The speaker began their university career by process of elimination, ruling out fields they were not interested in, such as medicine and history.
• 🔢 A passion for mathematics was sparked by engaging teachers and the enjoyment of complex calculations and algebraic expressions.
• 🏫 Initially, the speaker faced skepticism and concern from others about the practicality of a mathematics degree and future job prospects.
• 👩‍🏫 The journey into teaching mathematics began with a surprising first day of teaching, where the speaker had to step in without prior experience.
• 🎓 Despite enjoying teaching and believing in the clarity of their instruction, the speaker was shocked to find many students failing their first exam.
• 🧐 This experience led to a period of reflection on what had gone wrong and the realization that teaching effectively is more complex than initially thought.
• 📚 As the speaker progressed in their mathematics degree, they began to appreciate the power and generality of mathematical concepts, seeing them as part of a larger framework.
• 🔍 The speaker's initial hostility towards mathematics education shifted to curiosity and eventually to recognition of its importance in providing a deeper understanding of teaching practices.
• 📈 The power of mathematics education was realized through its ability to offer explanations for phenomena observed in the classroom that were previously unclear.
• 🌐 A virtual course experience highlighted the negative connotations many people associate with mathematics, such as 'boring' and 'difficult', contrasting with the speaker's positive view.
• 🤓 The speaker suggests that the way mathematics is taught in schools may contribute to these negative perceptions and calls for a change in educational practices to better reflect the real-world applications and excitement of mathematics.

Q & A

What was the speaker's initial approach to choosing a university major?

The speaker started by elimination, ruling out fields such as medicine and veterinary science due to a dislike of blood and history.

What sparked the speaker's interest in mathematics?

The speaker was fascinated by mathematics due to inspiring teachers who made complex calculations and algebraic expressions enjoyable and intriguing.

Why did the speaker decide to pursue a career in teaching mathematics?

The speaker was drawn to teaching mathematics after discovering the power and generality of mathematical concepts and enjoying the process of explaining them to students.

How did the speaker's perception of mathematics change as they progressed through their studies?

The speaker began to see the power and audacity of mathematics, realizing that initial concepts were just particular cases of more general theories.

What was the speaker's first experience as a mathematics teacher like?

The speaker's first teaching experience was challenging, as they had to teach a large class without knowing their co-teacher's identity and ended up teaching the entire class themselves.

How did the speaker's students perform on their first exam?

The students performed poorly, with many receiving insufficient grades, which left the speaker disoriented and questioning their teaching methods.

What was the speaker's initial attitude towards mathematics education?

Initially, the speaker had a somewhat hostile attitude towards mathematics education, feeling that it was separate from the pure mathematics they loved.

How did the speaker's perspective on mathematics education evolve?

The speaker's perspective evolved as they began to understand the contributions of mathematics education in providing explanations for phenomena observed in their classes.

What was the purpose of the in-class assignment involving supermarket interviews?

The assignment aimed to explore the public's perception of mathematics and contrast it with the positive image a mathematics enthusiast might project.

What did the supermarket interview assignment reveal about public perception of mathematics?

The assignment revealed that the public associated mathematics with negative connotations such as 'boring,' 'difficult,' and 'useless,' which contrasted sharply with the students' own perceptions.

What is the speaker's view on the relationship between pure mathematics and mathematics education?

The speaker believes that while the content of pure mathematics may be distant from what is taught in schools, the type of problem-solving approach can be qualitatively similar, and this should be reflected in teaching.

What challenges does the speaker identify in the training of mathematics teachers?

The speaker identifies the difficulty in integrating the exact science of mathematics with the social science of education, and the need for teachers to be adept in both areas.

What is the speaker's conclusion on how to improve the perception of mathematics in education?

The speaker concludes that educators need to rethink how they form teachers, ensuring they can capitalize on the power and attractiveness of mathematics to avoid generating negative perceptions.