Russell Martin asked <<< I'm not terribly impressed with curriculum developers in general. But this raises the question, is math the least well taught of subjects? Or is it harder to teach? >>>
I think there are a few things going on. 1) Math is a subject where a good or bad teacher can make a really huge difference. Of course, this is true generally; but I think it is easier to teach oneself most other subjects. 2) The abilities needed to teach math well are not widespread, and are not addressed in the curriculum for elementary teachers ( I don't know the requirements for HS teachers). Thus, at least in the early years, kids are taught math by people who don't really understand math at a deep level. 3) The shortage of math teachers means that, at least in many school districts, math is sometimes taught by people who never intended to be math teachers. Peter . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
