[Blindmath] Math for everyday use

[Jonathon Yaggie]

I am a woman and I hated math in school also.  While it is a bit ironic, I
had many similar questions in high school as your student.  My advice is
find something she does like and relate math to that.  The other way rarely
works.  Accomplishing this takes some effort and comfort with math.  To my
students displeasure, I see math in everything.

In my case, another underlying issue was that I was stuck on a conceptual
leap that seems trivial now, but was very important.  I really
misunderstood what a variable was.  While many students just ignore the
fact that they do not understand a basic concept, and simply manipulate
values as instructed, I could not.  I do not view this as a weakness. In
fact it shows that a student want to learn the subject, not just pass it.
This is a good thing.   But is difficult to identify.  If you suspect your
student falls in such a category, the best answer in my opinion is step
back find the concept she is stuck on and address it.  You cannot convince
some one of the value of things that they do not understand.

Finally, if possible find a good teacher/role model.  I think we
underestimate how essential exposure to a person who loves the subject is.
Too many teachers dislike math, and students know it.  All students benefit
from meeting some one who loves their subject and is a "normal" person
("normal" here means not the stereotype, what ever that may be for someone
who does math).

Jon Yaggie
EYH  Chicago Coordinator
UIC Mathematics

On Mon, Dec 8, 2014 at 10:57 AM, Wilson_KC via Blindmath <
blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> I have an 8th grade blind student in pre-algebra.  She constantly asks the
> question, "When will I ever use this?" or "Why do I need to learn this?"
> I'm going to have her do some of her own research on practical applications
> for math, I have some of my own ideas, but I wanted to ask you all for some
> "come back" answers.  I realize many of you are math geeks, but this
> student is not, at least at this point in time.  So can you let me know how
> you, as a blind person, use math in your every day life?
>
>
>
> Thanks.
>
>
>
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