Math’s hidden relevance

Teachers’ methods, indifference to blame for lack of interest

By Lina Giannarou - Kathimerini

Millions of children around the world probably don’t care that mathematics — which for them means endless equations and algorithms — is at the heart of every aspect of our daily lives and even have close links to philosophy, history, literature and art.

“Children don’t understand why they need to learn mathematics,” said mathematician Stratos Stratigakis, “and for that we are all to blame.”

Schools that do not function properly, where valuable teaching hours are lost, “sterile” textbooks and indifference on the part of a large number of teachers have all made the world of numbers inaccessible to many children.

“In effect, no one is interested in teaching children math,” continued Stratigakis. Yet algebra and geometry have countless applications in our lives, which should attract pupils’ interest.

“For example, I have a class who don’t care at all about math. But when I talk to them about the mathematics hidden in things they are interested in, such as the motion of a motorbike, I get their attention immediately. If you simply talk to them about algebra, you don’t achieve anything.”

However, not all teachers in Greece take as much trouble, as is evident from the pupils’ performance in the senior high school qualifying examinations. Last year, 73.77 percent of candidates in the technology stream failed to achieve the pass mark in math. In the last PISA competition held by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Greek 15-year-olds came 32nd out of 40 countries.

“Nevertheless we have to realize that in 10 years’ time those children will be out in life. If they don’t know mathematics, given the rapid technological advances, they’ll have communication problems, just as the illiterate do today.

“That is why we have to convince pupils that math helps us to better understand the world, to broaden our horizons. I tell children that math is the best mind-teaser, to forget about Sudoku,” said Stratigakis.

Mathematicians such as Apostolos Doxiadis and Tefkros Michailidis have taken initiatives in this sector, setting up a group of volunteers, known as “Thalis and Friends,” aimed at bridging the gap between math and other types of creativity. They have set up a pilot program titled “Reading Clubs” in cooperation with 15 schools in Piraeus.

Marina Thomopoulou, who coordinates the program, told Kathimerini that teachers and pupils met at weekends to discuss mathematical literature.

“The clubs have been a great success; we are even thinking of expanding them outside Athens. Narration is a method that appeals to children. That is why the pupils in the program are usually those who don’t do well at math. In fact, they prefer literature and so we use that as a tool to open up the world of numbers.”

Although most schoolchildren would prefer to be playing outside to sitting inside solving math problems, it is generally accepted that more boys than girls like the subject. Long gone are the days when girls were given a textbook titled “Mathematics for Girls,” but even today the scales are weighted in the other direction.

The question as to whether boys have a more “natural” inclination for the subject has been researched extensively, although no clear conclusions have been drawn.

In Greece, the number of boys studying the sciences in recent years has been double that of girls, and just 34 percent of math teachers in high schools are women.

On the other hand, the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS), which surveyed schoolchildren in 45 countries, showed that in Greek primary schools boys and girls perform equally well at math and sciences. At junior high school, boys perform better than girls in geometry, although there are no differences in the other areas of mathematics. Nor are there any differences in senior high (the survey covered boys and girls in the science stream).

Many researchers have observed that the differences in attitude toward math on the part of the two sexes is solely due to the stereotyped view that it is a “male” subject, a view held by parents as well as teachers. According to the TIMMS survey, a larger percentage of boys say it is important for them to do well in math to please their parents.

Research has shown that the children themselves believe that it is a male-oriented subject, so as they get older, girls show a decreasing interest in math. As a result, fewer go on to study it at university.