Ed Surge – Tomoe Hashimoto
“When it comes to teaching math and science, is the grass always greener across the Pacific Ocean? Last July, a team of US students edged out teams from China and South Korea to take first place in the 2015 International Math Olympiad—their first win in 21 years. Japan, considered by many to be a country that is almost naturally good at math, didn’t even place in the competition. In fact, an increasing number of Japanese educators believe that they are in the midst of a math motivation crisis. And they’re looking to the West for pedagogical inspiration. In contrast, the most recent PISA rankings clearly demonstrate that Asian countries have been outperforming Western nations in math over the past decade, with the top seven countries all in Asia—including Japan. As a result, some Western educators have begun to import Asian approaches to learning math.”(more)