Teaching Pursuits

My thoughts on some common questions



When will I ever use this?

This question is the standing joke in society about mathematics. Most people see mathematics as a disjoint collection of topics with little or no use in the real world. As an instructor I feel it is important that I be aware of this and that I question the topic list in each course to ensure that I am not teaching material simply because it has always belonged to a particular course and always will. However, I also believe one can never know what knowledge will be required in the future and so what may appear to be unimportant to a student today may serve them very well in the future. I also believe that mathematical theory on its own has instrinsic worth outside of the real world and part of any university education should include an exposure to part of this theory.



The graphing calculator is required in all of Capilano's first year courses. Doesn't this create weaker students?

We live in a technological world. We have a duty and a responsibility to prepare our students for it. If mathematics can be performed on a machine, we should expose our students to that technology, not ban the use of it. Technology should never be used instead of thinking, and anyone who has used technology such as graphing calculators, or a CAS, knows that only those students who understand a problem clearly can effectively use the technology.

Of course, students who use technology will depend on it more that students who do not use technology. On the otherhand, students who use technology also know that most functions do not have integer roots, most polynomials are not quadratics, and technology is only a tool not a cerebral replacement.



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