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Sarah Montague interviews the people whose ideas are challenging the future of education.

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The Educators: Jo Boaler

Jo Boaler

24/09/2014

BBC Radio 4 - The Educators, Jo Boaler

Professor Jo Boaler believes there is a crisis in maths education.

Is the way we talk about maths killing the joy of the subject? Professor Jo Boaler tells Sarah Montague why we must get over our fears of getting it wrong.

Is our attitude towards maths killing the subject for children? Professor Jo Boaler believes a widespread belief in the existence of a 'maths brain' is ruining pupils' chances of success in the subject.

She tells Sarah Montague that anybody can be good with numbers, but unlike other subjects, we teach the idea that some people are simply good or bad at mathematics.

Having researched the way maths is taught in schools in the UK and in the US, Stanford University professor Jo Boaler says pupils are too often made to think that maths is a long list of rules and procedures to be learned off by heart. 

In the programme Sarah Montague discovers why real mathematics is about uncertainty; the study of patterns and creative problem solving. She hears about some of the controversial new methods designed to teach flexibility with numbers, which have some parents confounded by the homework their children are being set.

Presenter: Sarah Montague
Producer: Joel Moors.

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