Dick Tahta in his Victoire sur les Maths (victory
over maths) demonstrates me several examples of children with limited ability
in performing math problems because of their psychological issues.
Most of the examples are about Lusiane Weyl-Kailey,
a therapist worked in a Paris clinic. All the children mentioned in the article
have some kinds of family issues that psychologically prevent them from
understanding mathematical concepts.
OK, up to this point I was totally curious about
Dick’s idea: how can family issues influence children’s understanding of
mathematics?
Well, family issue does, more or less, influence children’s
learning abilities. Dick believes if the family issue is somehow relevant to some
mathematical concepts, and because a child always tries to AVOID unhappy events
in his/her youth, s/he may PRETEND/ALTER the math concepts as a way of changing
the reality s/he is facing. (In this article all the children are male.)
There are things I need to mention here:
1) Most
treatment mentioned in the article took a year. Children are normally put away
from math works, and are treated patiently by the therapist.
2) Despite
the exact treatment plans are not mentioned in the article, I feel that the
treatments improved the children’s math work gradually. Meanwhile, the
treatments also changed the children’s feelings toward their family members.
3) It
is in Paris, and it takes a year, so the treatment must be expensive.
4) Math
concepts were relevant to family issues. This implies that math is taught from
unconsciousness, especially in early year math education.
Sorry guys for the late post.
The authors, Sfard and Fischbein, of the other two articles mainly focus on the relationship between learning of mathematics and cognitive development while Tahta emphasizes the benefits of mathematics used as "medicine" for psychological problems. I am really impressed that math can be used as a type of psychological therapy to help young children who suffer from family problems related to the nature of numbers. The success of mathematical therapy presented in this article may serve as a model example to satisfy the curiosity of the learners who contantly search for an answer to questions about the practicality of mathematics in the real world.
回复删除This article makes me think of gambling which involves mathematics, such as probability. I am wondering whether mathematical therapy can help problem gamblers quit gambling, thereby improving their family relationships.
One of the things apparent to me in the articles is the interest in control; I have never before heard of mathematics being used as a method for resolving psychological issues, and here it seems that the mathematics was an addition to therapy. I don't think, however, that this kind of relationship is the only way in which students dealing with personal issues can learn mathematics well. I've worked with many students who, once they were able to settle their personal issues (or, at the very least, be heard) were then able to focus on their math task/lesson. I think that this is the case with all learners; learning is the most productive when students are able to focus entirely on learning a method. I am glad that this article focuses on personal issues and emotions, rather than just psychological processes.
回复删除Shan, your comment regarding mathematics exposure in young children reminded me of Dr. Anderson's study last year where she asked mothers to videotape their children doing math; her artifacts of math included children imitating lawn sprinklers (changes in elevation, high to low, of the rise and fall of water), etc. I wonder if those instances are common in all families?