Book Review: All You Need Is Math: A Review of What's Math Got to Do With It?: Helping Children Learn to Love Their Least Favorite Subject-and Why It's Important for America

Abstract

In What's Math Got to Do With It? Jo Boaler joins a heady list of public intellectuals such as Jo Sanders (1986) and Sheila Tobias (1994) who seek to engage public policy by explaining extant research to “just plain folk” (Lave, 1988) and to empower their audiences to “do something about it.” Boaler's audience is parents; the “it” is the dreary mathematics teaching that is provided to their children. In fact, one girl told Boaler: “In math, you have to remember; in other subjects, you can think about it” (p. 40). For parents and their children, Boaler presents alternatives, such as Emily Moskam's classroom at Greendale High School, in which mathematics is taught using complex problems that engage students and that result in authentic mathematical activity.