Get The Math (2010)
Get The Math is a PBS Kids series using creative career fields and showing how math is used in them. I volunteered to show how math is used in video games.
My Role
I helped design a simple interactive game that would challenge kids to use basic Algebra to redirect a spaceship from a crashing meteor and I volunteered to be in the show to highlight videogames and math.
Lessons Learned
Showing Mathematics in Context
The show aimed to take abstract math concepts and connect them to creative fields to show students how these concepts can be applied. The math was presented much like it is in real life: a question. How do I solve this problem? There might be more than one answer, and the process to figure out a solution is what matters, not the actual solution. This way of teaching does make assessment harder to do, yet it stresses the play that happens in math.
By stressing the answers we inforce memorization, not exploration. Math then becomes a system to gage memory retention, not understanding math concepts. And by stressing this way of learning we remove math's mystery and playfulness. Memory recall is used in place of encouraging a journey of process and showing the joy of playing with possible solutions. It reminds me of Dan Finkel's interview with NPR's Ted Radio Hour where he says that the way we teach math turns kids off from learning because we don't allow them to play, we only ask them for the answers.