Duolingo Math and Music
Feb. 5th, 2024 11:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitoutDuolingo has been doing language learning for a while now, but more recently has added Math and Music.
I tried both Math and Music fairly quickly after they were released. I found doing the Music lessons on an iPad to be frustrating and unfamiliar, so I abandoned it very quickly. I was disappointed by the Math lessons because they only covered some fairly simple topics in math. However, it is frequently the case that I start a new language and continue it in fits and starts because I’m attempting to meet some daily goals and it’s easier (for complicated reasons that are obvious to regular users of Duo and difficult to explain to people who have never used it) to meet some of those daily goals earlier on in the path of a given language than later. I also will start a new language / topic on occasion if I’m trying to rack up a lot of points for some reason, like, it’s Sunday and I’m still in the demotion zone, altho that happens a lot less often now (they appear to have changed how earning 2X points works again, so I’m spending far more time in 2X point collection time than I was for a while).
Because the Math topic is relatively short (currently — I expect that will change, altho I don’t know anything, this is purely a guess), I worked my way through the entire thing (no, I have not 3 starred every single starred level). Maybe 2/3rds of the way through, I started to really appreciate what they were doing with Math. I noticed that lessons were structured to build connections between percentages, fractions, decimals and various graphical representations. That is, they are trying to help develop a sense of quantity, independent of representation. This is really great! It’s a thing that a lot of people struggle with, even long after they’ve learned a bunch of calculus, and it’s useful in everyday life, where often people mix-and-match either on purpose or Just Because. And it’s really useful to have that innate sense of quantity independent of representation, because people fuck up all the time and you can catch that by feel if you get good at it. I think Duo probably effectively helps develop that, so good for Duolingo!
Having completed the Math topic, I thought I would revisit the Music topic and see if perhaps I was being a bit unfair to it. I often do Duolingo and other things in my chair in the living room or at the counter in the kitchen or at the dining room table, and I do that because it is interruptible, low-stakes and I can be available if my kids want to chat, or I can monitor something that is cooking. To give Math a truly fair chance, I made sure I used it when there wasn’t anyone around interrupting me, and I wouldn’t be annoying anyone while using it (I could also have just used headphones/earbuds). For whatever reason, it is much more fun now. The Music topic appropriately emphasizes rhythm (which can get lost in trying to learn the right notes) and like the Math topic, it, too, uses multiple representations for the tones. It uses color, letters, the familiar staff. It mixes and matches what it offers and what representation it wants back. It introduces new tones very, very slowly. I can imagine that someone who has been singing or playing by ear for a while (that would be me) would find it pretty painfully basic, however, just like the Math topic, if you persist, you will close gaps in your understanding quite rapidly.
I know the Duolingo approach to learning is not for everyone at all times. In particular, my many friends who also use this gameified learning system frequently talk about wanting better explanations of grammar. Every time I _do_ go look at any kind of grammar explanation, I wind up finally figuring out something I kept struggling with in Duo — but I really, really, really avoid doing that, because I don’t want to know the “rule”. I want to be able to produce it without consciously thinking about it. I want that other part of my brain to do the heavy lifting. If you’ve struggled with math or reading music, and felt mortified but also still wish you could do better, maybe don’t tell anyone but try Duo and see if that works for you. We all know we suck at languages other than the one we grew up with, so the sharing components of Duo are easier there. But honestly, Duo gives you the chance to be absolutely stupid without anyone else being involved in the process. With Math and Music, that might be quite a gift.
ETA:
Also, dadchats over on TikTok recently fell into some Reddit lifehacks rabbit hole and shared the results. The one that stuck with me was the interchangeability of percentages (50% of 10 being the same as 10% of 50, type of thing). I’d never noticed. R. had never noticed. Obviously, dadchats had never noticed. A. immediately said, of course that works, it’s multiplication. She’s right, and also, when she said that, I was immediately reassured. A lot of people think that Kids These Days [insert something insulting here]. I’ve been convinced that a lot of what and how they teach in school is far better than when I was in school, but there was all that nonsense about pandemic, math education, etc. But if she took one look at this thing and said, duh, here’s why, while her STEM educated ‘rents were gobsmacked, there’s more than hope for our future. Things truly are improving.
I tried both Math and Music fairly quickly after they were released. I found doing the Music lessons on an iPad to be frustrating and unfamiliar, so I abandoned it very quickly. I was disappointed by the Math lessons because they only covered some fairly simple topics in math. However, it is frequently the case that I start a new language and continue it in fits and starts because I’m attempting to meet some daily goals and it’s easier (for complicated reasons that are obvious to regular users of Duo and difficult to explain to people who have never used it) to meet some of those daily goals earlier on in the path of a given language than later. I also will start a new language / topic on occasion if I’m trying to rack up a lot of points for some reason, like, it’s Sunday and I’m still in the demotion zone, altho that happens a lot less often now (they appear to have changed how earning 2X points works again, so I’m spending far more time in 2X point collection time than I was for a while).
Because the Math topic is relatively short (currently — I expect that will change, altho I don’t know anything, this is purely a guess), I worked my way through the entire thing (no, I have not 3 starred every single starred level). Maybe 2/3rds of the way through, I started to really appreciate what they were doing with Math. I noticed that lessons were structured to build connections between percentages, fractions, decimals and various graphical representations. That is, they are trying to help develop a sense of quantity, independent of representation. This is really great! It’s a thing that a lot of people struggle with, even long after they’ve learned a bunch of calculus, and it’s useful in everyday life, where often people mix-and-match either on purpose or Just Because. And it’s really useful to have that innate sense of quantity independent of representation, because people fuck up all the time and you can catch that by feel if you get good at it. I think Duo probably effectively helps develop that, so good for Duolingo!
Having completed the Math topic, I thought I would revisit the Music topic and see if perhaps I was being a bit unfair to it. I often do Duolingo and other things in my chair in the living room or at the counter in the kitchen or at the dining room table, and I do that because it is interruptible, low-stakes and I can be available if my kids want to chat, or I can monitor something that is cooking. To give Math a truly fair chance, I made sure I used it when there wasn’t anyone around interrupting me, and I wouldn’t be annoying anyone while using it (I could also have just used headphones/earbuds). For whatever reason, it is much more fun now. The Music topic appropriately emphasizes rhythm (which can get lost in trying to learn the right notes) and like the Math topic, it, too, uses multiple representations for the tones. It uses color, letters, the familiar staff. It mixes and matches what it offers and what representation it wants back. It introduces new tones very, very slowly. I can imagine that someone who has been singing or playing by ear for a while (that would be me) would find it pretty painfully basic, however, just like the Math topic, if you persist, you will close gaps in your understanding quite rapidly.
I know the Duolingo approach to learning is not for everyone at all times. In particular, my many friends who also use this gameified learning system frequently talk about wanting better explanations of grammar. Every time I _do_ go look at any kind of grammar explanation, I wind up finally figuring out something I kept struggling with in Duo — but I really, really, really avoid doing that, because I don’t want to know the “rule”. I want to be able to produce it without consciously thinking about it. I want that other part of my brain to do the heavy lifting. If you’ve struggled with math or reading music, and felt mortified but also still wish you could do better, maybe don’t tell anyone but try Duo and see if that works for you. We all know we suck at languages other than the one we grew up with, so the sharing components of Duo are easier there. But honestly, Duo gives you the chance to be absolutely stupid without anyone else being involved in the process. With Math and Music, that might be quite a gift.
ETA:
Also, dadchats over on TikTok recently fell into some Reddit lifehacks rabbit hole and shared the results. The one that stuck with me was the interchangeability of percentages (50% of 10 being the same as 10% of 50, type of thing). I’d never noticed. R. had never noticed. Obviously, dadchats had never noticed. A. immediately said, of course that works, it’s multiplication. She’s right, and also, when she said that, I was immediately reassured. A lot of people think that Kids These Days [insert something insulting here]. I’ve been convinced that a lot of what and how they teach in school is far better than when I was in school, but there was all that nonsense about pandemic, math education, etc. But if she took one look at this thing and said, duh, here’s why, while her STEM educated ‘rents were gobsmacked, there’s more than hope for our future. Things truly are improving.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-05 10:30 pm (UTC)Dad had a great anecdote about my oldest sister coming up with a proof of why multiplication is commutative when she was in primary school: if you have seven rows of eight soldiers in formation, and then the drill sergeant says "Face right!" you suddenly have eight rows of seven soldiers, but you haven't added or taken away any soldiers, so you must have the same number.
I have probably mentioned that I get very cross at multiplication tables that are badly typeset and don't show why we call square numbers "square," nor adequately portray multiplication pairs as equivalent. Especially the multiplication table that was in Pee-Chee folders.