Math and English
While going through school it seemed the two subjects that gave the most people the most trouble were math and english. My apologies for people in other countried but perhaps it was the same problem just insert the principle speaking language in place of English. But for a boy growing up in the Eastern half of the United states this was the case for me.
Mathematics wasn't quite so scarry to me, but I saw the fear in the eyes of my fellow students when it came down to Algebra, Trigonomoetry, or Geometry. These subjects offered no relevance to the person whose life goal was perhaps to play pro football, or write journalistic masterpieces. Instant Trig calculations of player trajectories versus force exerted on the ball isn't commonly though of. It's aim and throw. Hit the receiver, go for touchdown. Running patterns are strategical not mathematical. And how often are you citing the geometrical proffs in an editorial for the Sunday newspaper?
The fact of the matter is Math is just not that much fun to the majority of the people who have to take it. However, it is a rare person who doesn't want to play a game. A game, a challenge, a test of ones abilities to achieve majestic and impossible things is generally want makes us go. But was makes a game a game? The reward of playing. At least that's one theory. So what reward can there be for doing math? Perhaps a better question is how can we turn doing math into a game.
Let's take algebra for an example. While the game may not be exciting the reward can make up for it. Each student is given a set of problems different from one another, and during the course of a class they each in turn come up to the board and write the problem and the solution on the board explaing how they arrived at the solution. Periodically they have this game and for each student who succeeds then that student gets a point. If all students totaled together achieve a certain point value, OR if each student can exceed a certain point total then the class wins. What do they win? Well, that's the catch, as a teacher ryou may have to point up a one time end of the year cost for a pizza party. A worthy prize I think. Or perhaps a mid term and a final party.
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