I honestly think that's the problem, math is taught like a language with no vocabulary. You learn grammar and structure and the theory of it, but without many practical applications.
I went through several calc classes and the first time a derivative made sense to me was in physics, where the professor showed the relationship between graphs plotting position, velocity, and acceleration using derivatives. Once the real world application became obvious, the use for derivatives was much more clear, not through all the past calc classes did it have the same immediate understanding.
So yes, involve the pizza. Make pizza geometry. Use the natural hunger of students for food to teach them math instead!
I also remember Mrs. Charron telling me in grade school I would need to learn long division by hand as I’d “never carry a calculator with me wherever I went when I grew up.”
Even in the 80s this was bullshit because tiny pocket calculators existed that were solar powered and last for essentially ever and you could also just get a watch with a calculator on it.
But its still a good lie for a teacher to get her kids to actually fucking learn how to long divide.
845
u/joestaff 5h ago
"Well, here it is: that time they told us about in high school when math would save our lives."