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Two Questions Frequently Asked by Parents of Stuyvesant Math Students Question: My child says “I understand everything my math teacher does in the classroom, but when I take a math test, I blank out.” Why is this happening? Answer: The chief reason for this is that the student fails to recognize that understanding is not equivalent to learning. Understanding merely opens the door to learning: it is an opportunity to learn, not to be confused with learning itself. What is understood in the classroom is easily forgotten ten minutes after the class is over. In order to utilize the opportunity that understanding provides, the student must first recognize that understanding is not a sufficient condition for learning. It is necessary but not sufficient. Remedy: The student (and the parent) should recognize that homework is not only an extension of the day’s math lesson but arguably the most important part of it: This is the time when a concept that was understood earlier in the day is actually learned. To facilitate this process, the student needs a far more disciplined and purposeful approach to homework. To that end, these steps should be incorporated in your son’s or daughter’s homework routine. How to Study Mathematics 1. Before starting the written part of every homework assignment, the student should review the notes from the day’s lesson. On most days, this will probably require no more than two minutes. 2. After reviewing the day’s notes (and before starting the written part of the assignment), the student should reflect on the lesson and state what the one or two most important concepts or skills were. (This helps put the concepts in the student’s short and long term memory.) 3. During homework, students should consult the Answer Key in the back of the text to see if their answer to each odd-numbered problem is correct. If an answer is incorrect, students should re-do the problem and consult their notes until they get it right. (Giving up too soon is the best way to not learn. Only after 10 minutes of struggling should a student feel entitled to give up.) 4. Once every week, the student should glance through the notes from the previous five or six lessons. This may not require more than five minutes. (This is another antidote to blanking out on tests because it helps put the concepts in the student’s long term memory.) 5. Before every test, the student should review the notes to all the lessons upon which the test is based. Students who say they blank out during tests are invariably students who won’t take this obviously helpful step. 6. Before every test, if the student follows the first five steps, there need only be a light review, not an all-night cram session. Cramming is the best way to learn as little math as possible while expending the most effort!! Question: My son or daughter has always been an excellent math student. Why is he or she experiencing difficulty now? Answer: There are several possible explanations for this. The two most likely reasons are: (1) Stuyvesant High School standards, and (2) the mathematical wall that students inevitably hit as their math courses become increasingly more challenging. Consider each reason separately. 1. Stuyvesant High School standards: Unlike many (but not all) of the junior high schools and middle schools from which our students come, the student population of Stuyvesant High School is virtually 100% college-bound. Consequently, the criteria for formulating grades stress academic achievement far more than was the case at many of the schools that our students previously attended. Under these circumstances, far more work is required for a student to receive grades comparable to those that were received at a previously attended school. Some students have difficulty accepting and adjusting to this more demanding academic environment. That students who were on the math teams of their previous schools are often among the students who are experiencing difficulty in their math courses is a testament to how difficult it is for some students to recognize the increased demands of Stuyvesant’s math courses and how difficult it is for them to change their study habits to meet those demands. 2. The mathematical wall: As a student’s math career leads to progressively more challenging courses, almost every student eventually hits a wall--a course whose skills and concepts challenge the student far more than any course in his or her previous experience. Frequently the wall is Algebra and Trigonometry (Sequential III), often it’s calculus, occasionally (and very rarely) the wall isn’t encountered until the student is working towards his or her masters or doctorate degree. How the student responds to this new and understandably unsettling experience is critical because it may not only determine how the student fares in the course, but--more importantly--it may also determine the direction or track of the rest of the student’s mathematical career. Remedy: First, the student needs to recognize and admit that there is a problem. Then the student must change the entire approach he or she is taking to meeting the demands of the course in question. This entails bringing a lot more work and focus to the student’s math course. See “How to Study Mathematics” on the previous page.
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