Ours is not to reason why.
Just invert and multiply.
That’s the jingle some teachers use to teach students how divide fractions. The emphasis is on doing it right and no thought or care is given to why or how it works, you simply invert and move on with your life.
As I’ve learned more about how to teach math, I’ve realize just how bad a teaching strategy this is. Sure a student might memorize the tricks a teacher shares long enough to take a test, but they won’t know how to use them correctly, they won’t remember years later how they work. And they’ll leave thinking math is something you just have to memorize and some people just aren’t good at it.
A better way to teach math is to explore how things work, to construct the algorithms rather than simply memorize them, to understand why things work the way they do. When math is taught that way, scores, understanding, and retention over the long term all increase. It just takes a bit longer at the beginning, certainly longer than teaching a two line jingle.
It is our right to reason why when we are learning.
And it is also our right to reason why and ask questions of what we believe.
There are those who suggest that to question what you believe can only lead to unbelief. But if that were so, we would not be told in the scriptures to ask, seek, and knock.
- If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
James 1:5-6 - Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
Isaiah 58:2 - Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
Matthew 7:7 - And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
Luke 11:9
It was while reading those verses in James that Joseph Smith was inspired to ask God for help with the questions he was having. He asked. He set the example. And God answered. It is for us to ask. We should ask the whats. We should ask the hows. We should ask the whys. And we should expect an answer, if we ask in faith. I have learned that answers do not always come easily, speedily, or as I expect them. But the answers have come in my life.
Recently I was in a lesson and the teacher asked, “Why should we be like Christ?” I had never heard the question put quite that way. Generally we hear, “How should we be like Christ?” The teacher moved quickly past that question on to another, but it has stuck with me. How we are like Christ is by following His example of service, charity, love, and obedience. I wish we had discussed the why in the class. But it is now a question I am asking and looking for the answer on my own.
In another lesson it was asked, “Why do men have the priesthood?” Unfortunately that one is often answered, but the answer given does not seem a good one to me. Many say that it is to help men learn to serve others, because they are not naturally kind and serviceable. This degrades not only men, but also the priesthood of God. Christ held the priesthood, and He did not need help to be kind and serviceable. Men are not given the priesthood because they are bad and mean, but because they are already good and kind. And the other common answer also does not seem right to me that men have the priesthood while women give birth. What of women who never give birth? What do they have then? The priesthood is given to mankind to save mankind. Children are born to men and women to be raised by them together. Currently the only answer that has seemed good to me is that it is this way because it is the way God intended. But there is nothing wrong with me trying to understand God’s intentions further.
There are many “Why?” questions in my life. Some have been answered. Some of the answers have been that I will need to wait longer to fully understand. The only danger I see in these questions is in not asking them, in not looking for a deeper understanding that will stay with me past the end of chapter exam. I am trying to take the longer time to construct the meaning in my life that will be retained through the good and the bad.
Ask and ye shall find.
Ours is to reason why.
I am an educator and PhD. I quilt, belly dance, run, read, and try to grow things. I am a Mormon. I am infertile. I am a daughter, sister, aunt, grand-daughter, friend, wife, and mom.
Brett L. Dennis
Mama g
Giggles
AmandaStretch
(psssttt… That’s invert and multiply)
That little nit having been picked… 😉
I really like this post. A lot. My teaching philosophy at UVU in the Developmental Math department has been to show the “why” behind the math.
For example, instead of just explaining that pi is an irrational number approximately equal to 3.141592654, I show different approximations to the area of a circle and how these approximations lead to the derivation of the value of pi. Instead of teaching that the quadratic formula is negative b plus or minus the square root of b squared minus four a c all over 2 a (which I DO have them memorize), I actually derive this formula using completing the square first.
This derivation makes some students feel like they wish that their heads could just explode and get it all over with, but those that are serious about learning, and those that have curiosity about math usually say something along the lines of “OH! So THAT’S where they got that big formula from!”
“Because that’s the way it is” was never a good enough answer for me as far back as I could remember. I probably drove many of my elementary school teachers crazy with my questions, and probably because a lot of them never thought past the formula or the trick and they didn’t really know the answer either. One of the reasons Miss Bovee was my very favorite teacher EVER (aside from the little second-grade crush I had on her) was because she would say “I don’t know” when she didn’t know, but then she would go find out and bring the answer back to me.
I also love it when people tell me that the reason I believe the thing I do is because I haven’t questioned them thoroughly enough. If I were to REALLY look into my religion, I wouldn’t remain LDS very long…but that’s a topic for another day. I could spend the rest of today rambling on about that particular subject, and I really have to get some work done. 😀
I heard a great response to this question yesterday by our teacher. She said that the Priesthood is the Power of God on earth and that men can only use it to serve others. The only thing that really matters is that the blessings of the Priesthood are for EVERYONE. We can ALL be recipients of the blessings of the Priesthood if we ask.
Ah, but do you have them sing the quadratic formula? Hmm?
Yes, AmandaStretch, to the tune of Pop Goes the Weasel. That’s one that, once you get it in your head, you just can’t get it out again.
Inverse. Invert. See, not a very good teaching technique.
I too could go on all day about how I believe what I believe precisely because I have questioned it. But I decided talking about the importance of questioning would be enough for now.
And I asked Brett if he’d prepare the priesthood lesson from the Gospel Essentials book and teach it to me for FHE one of these days just so I can get a lesson about the priesthood from a different perspective than that normally used in Relief Society.
Mr. Me – Good. I’m just checking. 🙂
Also, it was stuck for a good twenty minutes after I posted my original comment. :unsure:
Mr. You, I have to admit, I wondered why you would be teaching philosophy in a math department. I think my wife finally has me straightened out on that one. :brett: