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Slice #25: Sin/Tan= Cos Y?

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My daughter came home the other night and groaned about her impending Maths test the following day. I asked her what she was studying and she replied with “sin, cos and tan” quickly followed by “why do we even need to learn it? I mean, when am I ever going to use this?’ I admit, the teacher in me automatically stepped in to formulate a ‘because you just do/because it is in the curriculum’ type response but then the realist in me took over and, after pondering for a few minutes, replied ‘actually, I don’t know.’

I too studied sin, cos and tan in high school. (I remember it distinctly because it was the 1 maths topic in which my twin sister was better than me.) Truth be told,  I still cannot actually name 1 situation since high school that has required me to use any of the functions. I remember my teacher saying at the time that he had used it the weekend before he taught us about it when creating a pergola at his house. (Great that he could give it a practical example but really, as a female I can’t say I was immediately convinced of the importance/relevance of it me and my future).

Discussing the work that my daughter had done in maths while learning about this topic I was astonished to discover that the historic method of every 2nd question down the left hand side is STILL being employed to teach Maths concepts (that arguably shouldn’t be taught anyway). With all of the advances in technology (including the ability to share research and best practice) I was surprised to find this method still being employed. This prompted me to wonder -Have I missed some mind blowing research sprouting this effectiveness of this model of teaching maths? I digress.

I have spent a bit of time since the sin,cos tan question from my daughter wondering about our high school maths curriculum today and I am left with a few questions…

  • Is this style of teaching prevalent across other schools/states/countries?
  • Should we be moving our Maths teaching to a ‘just in time’ model rather than the ‘just in case’ one that I believe we have now? Is this even possible? What would it look like?
  • What are the must have Maths skills for students leaving high school? What makes these skills must have?
  • What research is there on the effectiveness of problem based learning in a secondary Maths classroom? (Surely, this is a more effective method of teaching than a focus on repetition and drills of abstract concepts?)
  • What Maths does the average person use most in real life after high school? Is there any room in the curriculum for real life Maths applications such as the credit cards maths, life budgeting maths etc?
  • What role can streaming play in ensuring the curriculum is relevant for the students? When should this streaming start? Who should decide on the stream a student follows?
I will commit myself to paying more attention to Numeracy from now on, in search of answers to my wonderings. Until then, I have introduced my daughter to the wonders of Wolfram Alpha and the Khan Academy. 

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