Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticCat
Okay, I'll be honest here. I do all of these things all of the time, and I don't see any connection at all with linear equations (y=mx+b or the other forms). All I need to figure out square footage is a tape measure; I don't need to know the slope of the line or how it graphs on a plane.
|
See I can totally get where he's coming from because in 8th grade when I took algebra I barely paid attention (because I hated math) and then didn't get it (which made me hate math) and that made me want to pay attention less (because I did not care about math!) It was super frustrating. One thing that I know now that I wish I knew then is that it doesn't end at algebra. If you don't work hard at algebra I, you will struggle with algebra II, and so forth. I wish I had the foresight at the time to just stick with it and tough it out. It made my life a living hell mathematically for two years as I was learning concepts later that built upon ones that I never got in the first place. I often wonder if I'd just worked harder then if my life would have gone differently later.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticCat
Yeah, this gets at the main reason I have been able to come up with for him -- that it teaches a way of thinking and problem solving. But to his Aspergian brain, that's not good enough. The connection he wants to see is the specific one: I need to know how to do this kind of equation because I will use this kind of equation when I am doing this real-life task. And it's not enough to point to the kinds of jobs where you'd need to know how to do particular calculations; the fact that there are jobs where one would use, say, linear equations is irrelevant to him if it's a job he doesn't see himself doing (and if his attitude is that the job would be ruled out if it required much math). Of course, it doesn't help that he doesn't know what he wants to do. He just has the list of jobs that are out of consideration. (And yes, lawyer is out of consideration for him.  ) That leaves us reminding him that he wants to keep all his options open. |
The other point I have is that he has no idea yet what will truly interest him-- many of the topics that he may go on to love haven't yet been covered. For example, I HATED math with the burning passion of a thousand fiery suns, but when I learned about immunology and genetics, it sparked my interest in chemistry. And in chemistry you use linear equations to figure out things like rates of heating vs. cooling, etc. If my interest was sparked earlier, that could have changed things. Maybe try magazines like Popular Science or Popular Mechanics to show him how cool science and math can be?
Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticCat
Non-trigonometrical tangent: He did tell me a few nights ago that one reason he dislikes math is because "it doesn't require any thinking." That is to say, in his view, it is mechanical or (his words), "nothing but method." You learn the formula, you plug in numbers, you solve the equation. There's nothing "creative" (again, his word) about it; nothing that requires you to think about it in the same way as, for example, you think about the effects of a historical event or the meaning of a story (or the application of a case). This lack of "creativity" makes it very, very boring to him. I'm trying to work through how this fits in to helping him approach algebra.
|
This is true with algebra, but when you get past the basics math can be super creative. Math, in itself, is a language full of rules just like how grammar guides our rules. If you think about something as massive as the Golden Gate Bridge and how many things needed to be considered before it could be built; the wind, rain, other elements, fog, the weight of the cars, the smoothness of the surface, to make it cost effective, etc. Mathematical fields need critical thinkers and critical thinkers may need math to get to their end goal. Math is just a way to represent what would take a lot longer in words.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticCat
But get him started on things like the North Korean political system or the cult of Hitler, classical history, mythology, comparative politics or comparative religion (yes, he's been known to correct the teacher on things about religions other than ours, and yes the teacher looked it up and said "You're right") or many other topics, and he gets it a lot better than many adults.
|
This may actually be your eventual selling point, because a lot of what has happened historically is described mathematically. Ex: If a town has a runoff problem from a local factory and the runoff in the water is found to have 20 parts per million of a toxin, how long has this been a problem and how much toxin is being released every minute? It may sound dumb, but if he wants to think critically about pressing issues he may have to truly understand mathematical concepts in order to 1. be a better, more informed citizen and 2. potentially work to make a difference with them. Say (as per the example) that the runoff is not immediately problematic at a certain level, but it is at the current level. How much of it would have to be stopped in order to get it to a safe level? What would be the impact over time (this is a direct linear equation if the level remains constant).
Other things that tie in mathematically are things like geography. National and state boundaries are figured out through triangulation. Things like population increases are statistical but rates of literacy, homelessness, people without healthcare, etc can be described and projected with algebra and statistics. Natural resources, gross domestic product, inflation, etc are all able to be described with math and may eventually be of great interest to him. And honestly he sounds like the kind of kid that once he gets something he'll take off with it (i.e. if he gets that eventually he can be very creative with math he might love it). So my suggestion would be to try to pique his interest with scientific/mathematical things and in the meantime maybe expose him to some statistics? He may like them, and those build on algebraic concepts. Hope this helps.
Hybrid Mode
