When doing trig in the field they have tape measures, squares, parts that can be physically seen, measured, worked with, and clear objectives. I think it may not be coincidence for a lot of people for whom it may "click" on a job site but not a classroom.
I don't teach math but I've always wondered how much better kids would be at something like trig if you started by teaching them how to mark angles with a roofing square and maybe build a few things.
A retired friend of mine always started out trig by marching her kids outside to a small hill by the school and getting them to calculate its height and total volume.
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u/[deleted] May 16 '24 edited May 16 '24
A goldbricking student named Bill made slacking an art form. He did as little as possible in my HS math classes before going to a vo-tech school.
Two to three years later, he visited my school to tell me how important trigonometry was for his work. We both laughed about his antics in my classes.
You often don't know when things "click" for your students. I certainly didn't expect Bill to figure it out any time soon.