Stop Using Foul Language in The Mathematics Classroom. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School

The association between what words actually mean and its implied meaning is the subject of this article Stop Using Foul Language in The Mathematics Classroom.  Cheryl Hanselman, educator at Ledyard Middle School, gives educators a vital lesson in how we can be more effective in the teaching concepts of mathematics if we began by changing the language that we use in teaching our students.  Language such as; cancels, reduce, and invert and multiply teach students that shortcuts rather than forming their own thought patterns is an acceptable way to learn math. 

Teachers unintentionally use this sort of language in the classroom which can become hurtful and damaging to young mathematical minds.  This sort of language, according to the article does not encourage students to form or develop thought patterns that make sense to them.  It instead makes them dependent on formulas and their attempts to make sense out of numbers without the benefit of real meaning.

Teachers using mathematics in this form, early in a child’s mathematical education, do not allow for the development of number and operation sense.  These procedures of “canceling” for multiplying fractions, “reducing” for giving equivalent an equivalent answer, and “inverting and multiplying” for dividing fractions when these terms introduced should be used only after the ground work and foundation of mathematical concepts are taught.

In light of this information, teaching the short cuts too early will also stunt the students’ mathematical understanding and confidence level of critical thinking, which is vital in solving problems.  Consequently, as the article points out, teachers must make it of great importance in the classroom to seriously consider not teaching shortcuts to our students so that this will not become our students’ first exposure to mathematical concepts. 

As students learn math there should be a conceptual foundation that is continually built upon, too many students, including myself were taught in this fashion to cancel, reduce, invert and multiply.  What happens is that student will base his or her understanding upon a given formula for solving problems with no real or very limited understanding of the true concept of how math principles connect to form connections to each other. 

Now there are instances where some children learn fine this way, because of the diversity of students’ minds and do marvelous in understanding math. 

As educators, let’s give our students every positive opportunity to effectively grasp the meanings and concepts of mathematical problems and not leave another generation of dependent students such as myself, faced with the challenge of relearning math as a second language.