Teachers may look down on doodles as a waste of time and a sign of a lesson unlearned, but a new viral video points out the many cognitive benefits of in-class creativity. The video follows a math student as she turns her notebook into a work of art, while simultaneously explaining how creating your own drawing games can help you "connect the dots" in your lessons.
The eight-minute video, posted yesterday by Vihart, has collected nearly 30,000 views on YouTube. She describes the video as "Anti-parabola propoganda, plus musing on math class, cardioids, connect the dots, envelopes of lines, even a bit of origami."
A stream-of-consciousness narrative shows the student's winding thought pattern as she doodles her way through a lesson on parabolas in algebra class. "A more noble and outdated form of boredom relief" than playing Angry Birds on your iPhone, she shows that math-class doodles can actually stimulate mental activity rather than inhibiting it.
Not only are the drawings surprisingly beautiful, but the act of creating them leads the doodler's mind to wander to a philosophical examination of the education system. Her conclusion? "Teaching how to think is an individualized process" -- and for many students, it involves images and creativity rather than equations and fill-in-the-blank questions. And she's not the only one questioning the value of traditional algebra lessons -- Queens College professor Andrew Hacker recently wrote an op-ed arguing that algebra is the main academic impediment to graduation.
Do you doodle during math class? Does drawing help you learn? Tell us in the comments below or tweet @HuffPostTeen!
(H/t whatstrending.com)