Hard Times Dr. Fozia S. Qazi Professor and Head Department of Mathematics Islamic University of Science and Technology
Hard Times
Dr. Fozia S. QaziProfessor and Head
Department of MathematicsIslamic University of Science
and Technology
Our Classrooms I
Our Classrooms II
“ Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach those boys and girls Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else…..”
The scene was a plain, bare, monotonous The scene was a plain, bare, monotonous vault of a schoolroom….
(Hard Times by Charles Dickens)
Question: What is the tallest mountain in the world?
‘Wrong’Answer: Mount Everest.‘Wrong’Answer: Mount Everest.
‘Right’ Answer: The tallest mountain in the world is Mount Everest.
Our Teaching
• Teacher provides information (facts, formulas, algorithms)
• Student is expected to regurgitate the above in a test - often verbatim
• This encourages rote learning and conformity• This encourages rote learning and conformity
• Teaching is test-centric
• Exams are not designed to test for analytical skills or creativity.
• Good student develops good procedural fluency or good memorization of facts.
Real World
• Without higher order thinking skills, procedural fluency or memorization of facts is of little value.
• What is of value?
– Ability to see relationships and patterns
– Breaking from established mindsets– Breaking from established mindsets
– Having analytical skills
– Being a creative thinker
– Communicating ideas clearly
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
(Albert Einstein)
Purpose of Education?
• Good grades in examinations?
• Degrees? Jobs?
• Upward economic mobility?
Or is it aboutOr is it about
• Attaining higher order thinking skills
• Gaining knowledge
• Learning to think creatively
• Acquiring skills that improve your standard of living and of those around you.
What can be changed?
• Varied modes of assessment – oral exams, group work, projects/charts, written tests
• Shift in emphasis away from memory and rote learninglearning
• Shorter exams (or fewer questions). Give them more time to think and make the experience less stressful
• Open-ended problems instead of problems with only one ‘right answer’
Example
State Pythagoras Theorem
Or
If a2 + b2 = c2 and a=5, c=7, find b.
OrOr
A woman travelling by air has a 5ft long fishing rod. The airlines baggage rules allow only a maximum of 4 ft long boxes. What should she do?
How to Instill Creativity?
• Creativity develops over time but thrives on experience.
• Focus less on content and more on offering the right classroom experiences
• Teacher has to first appreciate the beauty and • Teacher has to first appreciate the beauty and creativity of the subject before helping the students discover them
• Open-ended problems
• Exposure to genuine scientific/mathematical activity
Asking the right question is more important than knowing the right answer
Thank youThank you