Math, Taught like Football
Growing up, I thought math class was something to be endured, not enjoyed. I disliked memorizing formulas and taking tests, all for the dull goal of getting a good grade. But my problem wasn’t with math itself. In fact, I spent countless hours as a child doing logic and math puzzles on my own, and as a teenager, when a topic seemed particularly interesting, I would go to the library and read more about it.
By high school, none of my teachers questioned my mathematical talent, but none of them really encouraged it, either. No one told me that I could become a professional mathematician. What I wanted to do then was to play college football. My ambition was to get an athletic scholarship to attend a Big Ten school.
The chances of that happening were very low. In high school, I was just an above-average athlete and my high school was not a “feeder” school for college sports programs.
That didn’t stop me from dreaming, though. And it didn’t stop my coaches from encouraging me to believe I could reach my goal, and preparing and pushing me to work for it. They made video tapes of my performances and sent them to college coaches around the country. It didn’t matter that I didn’t initially attract much interest from the big schools. My coaches kept picking up the phone, and kept convincing me to try to prove myself. In the end, a Big Ten school, Pennstate, did offer me a scholarship.
A growing body of research shows that students are affected by more than just the quality of a lesson plan. They also respond to the passion of their teachers and the engagement of their peers, and they seek a sense of purpose. They benefit from specific instructions, constant feedback and a culture of earning that encourages resilience in the face of failure.
Until I got to college, I didn’t really know what mathematics was. I still thought of it as problem sets and laborious computations. Then one day, one of my professors handed me a book and suggested that I think about a particular problem. It wasn’t easy, but it was fascinating.
My professor kept giving me problems, and I kept pursuing them. Before long, he was introducing me to problems that had never been solved before and urging me to find new techniques to help crack them.
I am now a Ph. D. candidate in mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and I have published several papers in mathematical journals. I still feel that childlike excitement every time I complete a proof. I wish I’d known this was possible when I was a kid.
35. Why did the writer think math class in school was “something to be endured” before entering college?
A.Because he wasn’t interested in math. |
B.Because his math teachers didn’t care to push him. |
C.Because he was too smart and talented for math class. |
D.Because he was training hard for an athletic scholarship. |
36. According to the writer, students are affected by the following things from teachers or coaches EXCEPT __________.
A.passion | B.constant feedback |
C.a sense of purpose | D.specific instructions |
37. We can conclude that after entering college, the writer___________.
A.was busy looking for problem sets to crack |
B.began to realize what mathematics really is |
C.met with laborious computations in his studies |
D.studied on his own just as he was in high school |
38. What does
“this” in the last sentence mean?
A.Feeling the children excitement. |
B.Different mathematical research. |
C.Generating curiosity and creativity. |
D.Being a professional mathematician. |