A social media post shared a slide from a teacher’s conference that read: “Young people do not hate math. They hate feeling confused, embarrassed, and humiliated by math.”
I could extend this analogy and say: “Old people do not hate technology. They hate feeling confused, embarrassed, and humiliated by technology.”
I’m sure you could keep the chain going and add in a number of things that cause angst more because of not understanding that from the process itself. Think about this the next time you are introducing a new _____ into your system and focus on helping people become comfortable with learning before you dismiss them as not interested or able.
Source: Lary Martinek at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, DC 2023
