From chapter 9 in our methods book, I found two ideas that really struck me as worthwhile. One pertaining to gender equity said that, in general, girls are less comfortable with calculators and technology than boys. I remember during my freshman year of college when I started my engineering classes that all of the boys were eager to program on computers and I had no experience with any programming. Not only did I feel intimidated by the boys already having the knowledge, but I felt that somehow I had missed something in high school that I was supposed to learn, and it made me reluctant to ask for help. So this tidbit of information really struck home with me. Today during a practice session with linear functions, I encouraged the students to use our graphing calculators. Two girls chose to use them, so I felt like I made a step in the right direction.
The other idea I liked was to find mathematical problems from different cultures to share with my students. With our diverse student population ranging from Vietnamese to Ukrainian to Gabonese, I'm eager to search for useful math ideas that will shed light on their various cultures. I think it will be healthy for all students to see the ways math is used in different situations.
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