What Makes A Good Math Teacher?

blueridge · #1 $Old$ June 13th, 2007, 04:22 AM

Honestly, what makes a good math teacher?

I feel that a good math teacher does not intimidate his or her students through assignments way beyond the years of the students. This is very common in math courses.

I feel that a good math teacher or math tutor can reduce the material to the level of students.

I feel that math is only as hard as the person who is teaching it.

What is your view?

Thanks

ThePerfectHacker · #2 $Old$ June 13th, 2007, 08:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blueridge $View Post$

Honestly, what makes a good math teacher?

I feel that a good math teacher does not intimidate his or her students through assignments way beyond the years of the students. This is very common in math courses.

I feel that a good math teacher or math tutor can reduce the material to the level of students.

I feel that math is only as hard as the person who is teaching it.

What is your view?

Thanks

I know that when a person knows too much he becomes a bad math teacher. Because he tends to explain more advanced concepts the students cannot follows. In fact, most the the great mathemations from history where horiffic teachers excluding Karl Jacobi.

Plato · #3 $Old$ June 13th, 2007, 10:16 AM

You may want to read these articles.
There are Keith Devlin’s take on this subject.
The Greatest Math Teacher Ever
The Greatest Math Teacher Ever, Part 2

CaptainBlack · #4 $Old$ June 13th, 2007, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blueridge $View Post$

Honestly, what makes a good math teacher?

I feel that a good math teacher does not intimidate his or her students through assignments way beyond the years of the students. This is very common in math courses.

I feel that a good math teacher or math tutor can reduce the material to the level of students.

I feel that math is only as hard as the person who is teaching it.

What is your view?

Thanks

It depends on the student, I suspect what some here would consider a
good teacher would horrify the majority of the students asking questions
here (see the links in Plato's post)

RonL

ThePerfectHacker · #5 $Old$ June 13th, 2007, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptainBlank $View Post$

It depends on the student, I suspect what some here would consider a
good teacher would horrify the majority of the students asking questions
here (see the links in Plato's post)

RonL

I think I would make a good professor.

CaptainBlack · #6 $Old$ June 13th, 2007, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThePerfectHacker $View Post$

I think I would make a good professor.

I rest my case

RonL

ThePerfectHacker · #7 $Old$ June 13th, 2007, 03:20 PM

I do not know much about math education. But I believe George Polya was a very good teacher, many textbooks on math mention him and his teaching methods.

CaptainBlack · #8 $Old$ June 13th, 2007, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThePerfectHacker $View Post$

I do not know much about math education. But I believe George Polya was a very good teacher, many textbooks on math mention him and his teaching methods.

His books were compuslory reading for maths students when I was an undergraduate.

RonL

Rebesques · #9 $Old$ June 13th, 2007, 04:08 PM

Quote:

His books were compuslory reading for maths students when I was an undergraduate.

That explains a lot about today's general ignorance about the subject

...May I ask when was that exactly?

CaptainBlack · #10 $Old$ June 13th, 2007, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rebesques $View Post$

That explains a lot about today's general ignorance about the subject

...May I ask when was that exactly?

1970's

RonL

Plato · #11 $Old$ June 13th, 2007, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rebesques $View Post$

That explains a lot about today's general ignorance about the subject

I must ask you to expand on that observation. What does it mean?
What do you know about George Polya and any of his students?
The Mathematics Genealogy Project - George PÃ³lya
Did you read the links to Keith Devlin’s articles about his assessment of RL Moore that I posted above? Polya was a great admirer of Moore and the Moore Method, as is Paul Halmos. There I have named three of the greatest mathematicians who were also great teachers in the 20th century.

ThePerfectHacker · #12 $Old$ June 13th, 2007, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plato $View Post$

There I have named three of the greatest mathematicians who were also great teachers in the 20th century.

The two greatest mathemations in the last one hundred years were Poincare followed by Ramanajuan. But if you are also looking for teachers I am not sure how good these men were.

Plato · #13 $Old$ June 13th, 2007, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThePerfectHacker $View Post$

The two greatest mathemations in the last one hundred years were Poincare followed by Ramanajuan.

I find that a laughable statement!
Ramanajuan was so myopic as to cause many to question how much mathematics he knew. Only a number theorist would say that.

ThePerfectHacker · #14 $Old$ June 13th, 2007, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plato $View Post$

I find that a laughable statement!
Ramanajuan was so myopic as to cause many to question how much mathematics he knew. Only a number theorist would say that.

Yes that is true, Ramanajuan did not know much math compared to the other mathemations of the century. But his good friend makes the following (I find it totally humorous) remark (taken from Wikipedia):

Quote:

Originally Posted by G.H.Hardy

The limitations of his knowledge were as startling as its profundity. Here was a man who could work out modular equations and theorems... to orders unheard of, whose mastery of continued fractions was... beyond that of any mathematician in the world, who had found for himself the functional equation of the zeta function and the dominant terms of many of the most famous problems in the analytic theory of numbers; and yet he had never heard of a doubly-periodic function or of Cauchy's theorem, and had indeed but the vaguest idea of what a function of a complex variable was.

But amognst number theorist he is one of the most respected mathematicians in the area.

However, I disagree with you. Not knowing a lot does not make one necessarily a bad mathemation. In fact, if God was to offer me a a gift of what style of mathematics I want to have, I would pick either Euler or Ramanjuan. Because I am amazed of how Ramanjuan was able to twist and manipulate equations, it is just shocking to see somebody do that so well. He is one of the few from math history who had this strange talent.

What about Poincare, do you agree with that?

Plato · #15 $Old$ June 13th, 2007, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThePerfectHacker $View Post$

In fact, if God was to offer me a a gift of what style of mathematics I want to have, I would pick either Euler or Ramanjuan. Because I am amazed of how Ramanjuan was able to twist and manipulate equations, it is just shocking to see somebody do that so well. He is one of the few from math history who had this strange talent.

Why would you pick a dwarf over a giant?