Ashley Tam's EDCP 342 Blog

1) Something that really reached me as a math learner at any age. I always loved how each math problem had one right answer. There were many ways to approach and arrive at a final answer, but I loved how logical each method was. Once I developed an understanding of the material I was always able to find a solution. I loved the satisfaction of finding THE solution. It was a reward system that truly worked for me, I felt the accomplishment of solving a problem, which made me want to continue working. 2) Frustrations with math learning. I struggled with math in third year university. I reached a new level of math that was no longer algebra or calculus, I began learning concepts I had never before seen and I struggled to understand. The only way I survived my third year of math was by seeking as much and all opportunities for extra help that I could possibly find. I went to all office hours and all tutorials and all lectures, I asked other students for help. Then by fourth year ...

While reading Skemp's article "Relational Understanding and Instrumental Understanding" a few things caught my attention. Firstly, the story about Mr. Peter Burney and his students not truly understanding how to find area. I have seen this issue on many occasions and it is something I struggled with how to approach. I have tutored students who mastered problems due to the repetitive nature of the work, but when given a problem slightly different or one that required a little more investigative work, they completely froze and could not move forward because they memorized a mathematical technique (instrumental learning) rather than truly understanding why it worked. This was frustrating and difficult to get around for some students as they had grown accustomed to learning this way in school and were then uncomfortable branching out of their routine. Secondly, I really valued the idea presented about how relational learning developed ideas for understanding a topic which cou...