The Comment Section w/ Mike Flynn

Math Therapy

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We're trying something new this week! Last week's ep with Mike Flynn dove into some very murky debate waters: do students need to know the "why" of what their learning in order to truly understand material, or is it fine for them to just memorize things as long as they get the answers? (If you missed, scroll back in your feed or click here to catch up.)

But the real drama took place over on TikTok, where Vanessa posted a clip from the ep and some viewers engaged in very polite and erudite discussion in the comments ... jk, people LOST THEIR MINDS. But there were also a ton of great points that are often debated in math ed, so we invited Mike back on this week to respond to some comments real-time and clarify some of what he and Vanessa meant last week. Enjoy - and either way, you know where to let us know what you think ;)

Links discussed:

• How to find the "why" in math class w/ Mike Flynn (last week's ep)
• The TikTok that started it all
• Lost S2E01 - *why* was Desmond typing the numbers?!
• Connect with Mike Flynn: Website, TikTok, Instagram

Connect with us:

• Vanessa Vakharia: Instagram, TikTok, Email
• Math Therapy: Website, Text the podcast, Merch Store
  • Get the book: Corwin, Amazon
  • Audiobook: Audible, Spotify

فصول

1. Intro (00:00:00)

2. Should we read the comments?! (00:02:40)

3. Why last week's ep hit a nerve (00:04:12)

4. 1) "I didn't have the chance to understand why." (00:05:55)

5. 2) "I learned fine, so don't change anything!" (00:10:57)

6. 3) "Teaching 'why' is a waste of time" (00:21:11)

7. 4) "You're SO right." (00:29:55)

8. 5) "YOU'RE SO WRONG" (00:34:48)

9. Final thoughts (00:35:19)