22 May People Make Mistakes
I have to say I was quite cross when I came across a newspaper article criticising Serbia’s Countdown equivalent of our Rachel Riley when she made a simple maths mistake on live TV.
This negativity towards maths and the ridiculing of mistakes, severely knocks people’s confidence, working completely against everything 123maths stands for.
The video of a simple error made by someone who is obviously under pressure on live television has gone viral. It’s interesting to see so many people relishing the fact that a person known for being good at maths has made a mistake.
The newspaper in question then posted a survey of what the answer of the sum should be with one option being ‘I HATE MATHS’. I deliberately haven’t posted a link to this article as I didn’t wish to promote it further.
There are lots of people and groups out there whose aim is to try and promote a positive attitude to maths. National Numeracy have a readable study called: ‘Maths Gene’. And we also like the work of London based Maths on Toast who put on events to encourage maths being seen as a ‘can-do’ activity.
As ever, all comments welcome.
