Math ed needs more conversations like this w/ Pam Harris

Math Therapy

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Today's ep ended up in a different place than Vanessa expected when she first sat down to chat with Pam Harris, founder of Math Is Figureoutable. Their first real interaction was on the DebateMath Podcast; Pam insisted that learning algorithms/shortcuts can actually hold students back from true learning, while Vanessa advocated for kids to learn however works for them.

Often, that's where it ends. Worse, especially in the "everyone yell at each other" media landscape, the conversation never begins! Which makes today's episode so refreshing - a debate that was more philosophical than ideological. Pam and Vanessa had the time to really go into depth about what they disagree on and where they see eye to eye ... spoiler alert, they're actually pretty aligned!

Links discussed:

• Math Is Figureoutable Podcast
• Free resource download: mathisfigureoutable/big
• #MathStratChat
• Vanessa & Pam debate algorithms on the DebateMath Podcast
• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

About Pam: (Website, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook)

Pam Harris is a leading math educator, author, and speaker best known for her work on making math figure-out-able. Through her books, podcast, and teaching, she helps classrooms move away from rote memorization and answer-getting, and toward math as something students can sense-make, reason through, and truly understand. She’s passionate about showing that math isn’t about tricks or steps—it’s about thinking, starting with the knowledge students already bring to the table.

Connect with us:

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

פרקים

1. Intro (00:00:00)

2. Why are algorithms so controversial? (00:02:05)

3. Is addition an algorithm? (00:10:01)

4. Learning by thinking, not following (00:14:22)

5. Is "natural ability" a thing? (00:18:56)

6. How this all plays into math anxiety (00:27:51)

7. Why we still teach in ways that don't work (00:32:12)

8. How to connect with Pam (00:40:53)

9. Q1 (00:42:09)

10. Q2 (00:42:32)

11. Outro (00:43:39)

12. Outtake - Britney Spears (00:45:40)