Documentary about math education to premiere in Oregon this weekend

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on October 16, 2012 at 10:01 AM, updated October 16, 2012 at 11:35 AM


mathkids.jpg In a scene from "The Biggest Story Problem," students at a New Mexico middle school confer about math. In
A provocative documentary about U.S. education will make its public debut at the Eugene International Film Festival this weekend and excerpts will be presented at a national middle school conference in Portland next month.

The 80-minute film, "The Biggest Story Problem: Why America's Students Are Failing at Math," explores -- mostly seriously but also with a sense of humor -- why U.S. students perform OK in math in the elementary years but plummet by high school to near-worst in the developed world.

It interweaves its quest for that answer with the efforts of New Mexico math teacher turned game developer to get a narrative computer-based math game up and running in schools around the country -- and see whether it helps kids learn.

In the end, the film doesn't provide a conclusive answer to the question of what makes U.S. math instruction so ineffective.

But it provides some very interesting hints -- including the tendency to shovel massive amounts of information to students without addressing key issues of motivation and understanding.

It also includes breathtaking footage from Finland, where students excel in math, and important insights from prominent people in the fields of math and education, including National Public Radio's "math guy" Keith Devlin.

Scott Laidlaw, the former math teacher turned educational game developer who co-directed and co-produced the film along with Jennifer Lightwood, wants parents to see his film and begin questioning accepted practices and assumptions in their children's schools. The film will be shown at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Regal Cinemas in Eugene.

"I don't think most people understand the staggering size of the U.S. curriculum. We have the largest math textbooks and math online curriculum in the world," Laidlaw said. "We have a really painful process in U.S. education ... give information, then give a test, then give a reward or a punishment... The reason students are given to learn it is because it's going to be on the test, in contrast to building an authentic learning enviroment."

Laidlaw will lead a session on teaching math through story-based games at the American Middle-Level Education's national conference in Portland Nov. 8.

-- Betsy Hammond