Years ago, I gave the keynote address at a statewide conference for math and science teachers. I called it “The Miss Perception Pageant” and spoke of some of the misperceptions that exist in the general public (and with our students) about these two important fields, both in general and as they relate to education and our teaching of these topics.
An interesting by-product of preparing for that talk was to discover yet another very general – and contradictory – misperception I hadn’t thought about. This discovery is best told as a fun story.
Because I was going to be speaking partly about misperceptions related to the public, I decided to visit with my most-easily-accessible ‘(wo)man on the street’ – my wife. Recall that my wife, before she retired, was a highly successful, articulate and inspiring business woman, but, like many of us, not the most comfortable with topics in (or about) mathematics.
After some gentle coaxing, she agreed to answer some general questions. Here’s a pretty accurate transcript of the conversation:
Larry: So, how would you define math?
Pat: (after some thought): Understanding numbers and their relationships.
Larry: OK. Not bad. So, where would you put algebra then?
Pat: In the trashcan.
Larry: (pausing to grin and digest . . .)
Pat (not waiting): No, really– it’s meaningless. In the trash can.
Larry (still laughing, but trying to regain control): Hmmm. Well, OK, how about geometry then?
Pat: Oh, well, now. I liked geometry. . . OK, maybe you better add angles and shapes.
By that time, we were enjoying ourselves, but I wasn’t sure this was going to help me. I switched to the field of science while I still could:
Larry: Well, then, how would you define science?
Pat: Understanding how the universe works.
Later, as I thought about this conversation, a couple of things dawned on me. I believe that Pat had been the perfect spokesperson to represent the majority of ‘mainstream’ perceptions of math and science.
On the one hand, many of us tend to underestimate the value/power of mathematics when we view it as ‘numbers and relationships’ only. When we think of math that way (as in ‘do the math’), we cheat ourselves! It’s what I mean and have meant when I continually say “Math is not arithmetic – only”.
At the same time, I think many of us run the risk of having almost the opposite misperception of science. Except for that fascinating subset of folks who are ‘science doubters’ and fact-ignorers on seemingly all belief-threatening topics of religion or politics, I don’t think we undervalue science. But I think we sometimes overestimate its scope. While the work of science over the decades has been amazing, it still does not ‘understand how the universe works’ on a comprehensive scale at all! Obviously, an understanding of how things work is the goal of all branches of science, but that is always a work in progress, and there will always be scores of unanswered questions in every field. The ‘understanding how the universe works’ is a process, not an acquired destination. A scientist is an explorer, not a possessor of all knowledge.
This common disparity of views certainly has implications for education and teachers in both fields. If we did a better job of shining a light on what math can do, would we decrease some of the anxiety? If we did a better job of putting perspective on how science works, would we decrease some of the fears?
