ABSTRACT
While I was helping my daughter Georgine with her math homework, I asked her to explain why she chose the operation she used to solve a problem. Not only did she not know, but also she did not care. She was more interested in getting the right answer by plugging in the proper formula. This is how she was taught math, and she doesn’t seem to want to change the way she learned it. I can only generalize that this is how many students are responding to attempts by teachers to create conceptual understanding. This age group is where so many students lose interest in math—just when they should be finding the beauty of it. Perhaps I shouldn’t worry too much; Georgine’s passion lies in social studies and literature. She is not a “math-brained” child, I guess. Are these children born, and not made that way?
