Hard Times

Dr. Fozia S. QaziProfessor and Head

Department of MathematicsIslamic University of Science

and Technology

Our Classrooms I

Our Classrooms II

“ Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach those boys and girls Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else…..”

The scene was a plain, bare, monotonous The scene was a plain, bare, monotonous vault of a schoolroom….

(Hard Times by Charles Dickens)

Question: What is the tallest mountain in the world?

‘Wrong’Answer: Mount Everest.‘Wrong’Answer: Mount Everest.

‘Right’ Answer: The tallest mountain in the world is Mount Everest.

Our Teaching

• Teacher provides information (facts, formulas, algorithms)

• Student is expected to regurgitate the above in a test - often verbatim

• This encourages rote learning and conformity• This encourages rote learning and conformity

• Teaching is test-centric

• Exams are not designed to test for analytical skills or creativity.

• Good student develops good procedural fluency or good memorization of facts.

Real World

• Without higher order thinking skills, procedural fluency or memorization of facts is of little value.

• What is of value?

– Ability to see relationships and patterns

– Breaking from established mindsets– Breaking from established mindsets

– Having analytical skills

– Being a creative thinker

– Communicating ideas clearly

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

(Albert Einstein)

Purpose of Education?

• Good grades in examinations?

• Degrees? Jobs?

• Upward economic mobility?

Or is it aboutOr is it about

• Attaining higher order thinking skills

• Gaining knowledge

• Learning to think creatively

• Acquiring skills that improve your standard of living and of those around you.

What can be changed?

• Varied modes of assessment – oral exams, group work, projects/charts, written tests

• Shift in emphasis away from memory and rote learninglearning

• Shorter exams (or fewer questions). Give them more time to think and make the experience less stressful

• Open-ended problems instead of problems with only one ‘right answer’

Example

State Pythagoras Theorem

Or

If a2 + b2 = c2 and a=5, c=7, find b.

OrOr

A woman travelling by air has a 5ft long fishing rod. The airlines baggage rules allow only a maximum of 4 ft long boxes. What should she do?

How to Instill Creativity?

• Creativity develops over time but thrives on experience.

• Focus less on content and more on offering the right classroom experiences

• Teacher has to first appreciate the beauty and • Teacher has to first appreciate the beauty and creativity of the subject before helping the students discover them

• Open-ended problems

• Exposure to genuine scientific/mathematical activity

Asking the right question is more important than knowing the right answer

Thank youThank you