In chapter one of, What's Math got to Do with It?, Jo Boaler discussed what math really is. I thought this chapter was interesting because I have never thought of math as being more than just sitting and doing math problems. Boaler showed in chapter one that math is not just sitting isolated doing math problems, but math has so much more to it. She discussed that math really applies to a lot in life. Boaler mentioned the best selling novel, The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown. This novel involves a lot of math and introduces readers to the "divine proportion". I thought it was interesting that Boaler brought up this book, because I personally liked this book, but always have hated math. If I learned math by applying it to things such as The Da Vinci Code, then I feel like math would have been way more interesting to me.
Another thing Boaler shows in chapter one is that math also applies to nature. She has a picture of a flower and maps the spirals in the flower. After reading this chapter I realized math applies to a lot of interesting things in the world. Math applies to science, music, history, and almost every other subject in school. An interesting quote I found in chapter one was, "Mathematics is a performance, a living act, a way of interpreting the world" (Boaler 29). As a teacher this made me think that it is necessary to teach mathematics this way instead of forcing my students to sit and do endless amounts of math problems, I should apply math to the world and other subjects. I feel that students would really enjoy math more if teachers treated math just like any other subject such as English or Science and let them explore and discover different theories. Math definitely needs to be more creative in schools.
Another thing Boaler shows in chapter one is that math also applies to nature. She has a picture of a flower and maps the spirals in the flower. After reading this chapter I realized math applies to a lot of interesting things in the world. Math applies to science, music, history, and almost every other subject in school. An interesting quote I found in chapter one was, "Mathematics is a performance, a living act, a way of interpreting the world" (Boaler 29). As a teacher this made me think that it is necessary to teach mathematics this way instead of forcing my students to sit and do endless amounts of math problems, I should apply math to the world and other subjects. I feel that students would really enjoy math more if teachers treated math just like any other subject such as English or Science and let them explore and discover different theories. Math definitely needs to be more creative in schools.
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