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A Mathematician's Lament: How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating and Imaginative Art Form (2009)

by Paul Lockhart

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3351477,376 (4.22)7
"One of the best critiques of current mathematics education I have ever seen."--Keith Devlin, math columnist on NPR'sMorning Edition A brilliant research mathematician who has devoted his career to teaching kids reveals math to be creative and beautiful and rejects standard anxiety-producing teaching methods. Witty and accessible, Paul Lockhart's controversial approach will provoke spirited debate among educators and parents alike and it will alter the way we think about math forever. Paul Lockhart, has taught mathematics at Brown University and UC Santa Cruz. Since 2000, he has dedicated himself to K-12 level students at St. Ann's School in Brooklyn, New York.… (more)
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» See also 7 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 14 (next | show all)
  pw0327 | Jan 26, 2023 |
This is the kind of math I love, and would have done a lot more of if I had been exposed to it at an earlier age. (I have far too many things I like to do to spend time getting up to speed on mathematical logic at this point.) ( )
  jen.e.moore | Sep 15, 2019 |
Outstanding! As a father trying to help his 15 year-old daughter, I find much that he says on target. I wish there were more teachers like him in the schools. ( )
  ifisher | Jun 27, 2016 |
Makes a strong case for mostly starting over again with the math education plan in America. Don't agree 100%, but I think his observations are ideas are essentially correct. ( )
  ndpmcIntosh | Mar 21, 2016 |
This is an opinion piece; an extended essay that is part rant about the inadequacies of mathematical education in the United States, part lament over the current state of affairs, and part impassioned plea to reinvent approaches to the subject.

I have to be careful I don't segue into a rant of my own here because Lockhart is definitely preaching to the choir with me. As someone who has tutored math of all levels on and off since my high school days, I see the same issues in my students (and in myself when I was a student). There is nothing like the school curriculum to kill any interest you might have in any subject, math most especially.

Anyone involved in any aspect of education should give this a read.

Disclaimer: This book was provided to me for free by the publisher. No review was explicitly requested, but I have obviously written one anyway.
  macsbrains | May 20, 2013 |
Showing 1-5 of 14 (next | show all)
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A musician wakes from a terrible nightmare.
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They say, “Math class is stupid and boring,” and they are right.
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"One of the best critiques of current mathematics education I have ever seen."--Keith Devlin, math columnist on NPR'sMorning Edition A brilliant research mathematician who has devoted his career to teaching kids reveals math to be creative and beautiful and rejects standard anxiety-producing teaching methods. Witty and accessible, Paul Lockhart's controversial approach will provoke spirited debate among educators and parents alike and it will alter the way we think about math forever. Paul Lockhart, has taught mathematics at Brown University and UC Santa Cruz. Since 2000, he has dedicated himself to K-12 level students at St. Ann's School in Brooklyn, New York.

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