A Different Angle for Teaching Math: In the Field of Technology, We Are Dealt a Unique Hand in This Teaching Game, and It Will Be Up to Us to Play This Hand Accordingly
2010; Volume: 69; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0746-3537
Autores Tópico(s)Experimental Learning in Engineering
ResumoAt a high school level, sometimes students can perceive math as simply another step towards graduation and learn just what is needed to get by. For example, if pi ([pi]) is presented to be a fraction (22/7) or a decimal (3.14 ... ) it doesn't make much sense to many students. Many just learn it as a constant and have no realistic understanding of what it is. However, once demonstrated as a relationship between a diameter and a circumference of a circle, then pi can come to life. In this experience, pi depicts the ratio between the circle's circumference and its diameter. If realistic examples were used more often in classroom settings, then teachable moments would happen--and that is where inspiration can be fostered. The purpose of this article is to provide thoughts and ideas behind the goals and lasting achievements of the technology curriculum. focuses on creative ways to address subjects and teaching methods for middle school students. Furthermore, it will provide ideas that can take the classroom from the basics of learning to read a ruler to more advanced steps like performing the Pythagorean Theorem. On a regular basis, it is easy to find oneself listening to arguments about the advancement of teaching. As future technology teachers, we ought to wholeheartedly believe that it will be our duty to the students to make sure basic fundamentals are learned and understood. So, however valid these individual arguments might be (and some are), a bridge between the basic and the advanced must be met. When we look to the left and to the right of the STEM initiative, we see structured curriculums that have historically built off one another. That is, science and mathematics in particular; these curricula build off of what was taught every year. In the field of technology, we are dealt a unique hand in this teaching game, and it will be up to us to play this hand accordingly. In one particular classroom discussion a colleague stated an absurd, but relatively true statement: Not all students necessarily learn in a classroom focused on standardized tests, most 'sit, spit, and forget: Participants in the classroom concurred with this statement, as they themselves had experienced such in the recent past during their secondary education. One of the authors of this paper states: It wasn't until I found myself in the real world that I first encountered anything I learned in a geometry classroom. Just the thought of using something I once thought completely useless and mundane was an inspiring moment. For me this moment came too late in my early years of academia. did, however, inspire convictions I thought never possible; that is, to become a teacher of technology. If students had such breakthroughs like mine at an early age, the extension of our field could be increased dramatically. That is to say, if we as educators can spur the minds of the youth in a path conducive to technology education, our jobs would become much easier, and the creative and intellectual minds of the students would take over and learning itself would teach the class. Moreover, I am suggesting that students can learn by themselves and be excited about new frontiers in the technology field. He continues, While doing some construction work, I was assigned to build a wall as a room divider. The contractor was teaching us basic things as we progressed, and one thing in particular stood out: the Pythagorean Theorem. As everyone knows, in construction, accuracy in square is vital, and in this case the same principles held true. For the first time in my life outside of my classroom, I used the Pythagorean Theorem, as shown in Figure 1, without realizing its principle. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] From the edge of the wall, we measured out three feet one way and four feet the other. The distance in between was five feet, and our wall was square and construction was ready to commence. Often it is said that to hear something is one thing, but to use it is to learn it forever. …
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