Sorry, Sean, but as Wolfgang Pauli used to say, "Not even wrong."
On Thu, August 25, 2011 6:19 pm, Sean Linton wrote: > Perhaps recently the culture of mathematics education, at least since > Newton's *Principia * Euclid's Elements, please. Principia is a book of physics, not math, and you are late by two millennia. Newton's full title is Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. > has been just that, *principles* handed down > a perceived hierarchy, from a *prince*. May be based on > genuinely useful descriptions and definitions, but as the Garfunkel > article > in the NYTimes suggests not really reflective of the pan-archy in which we > find ourselves today, where many types of mathematical skill set need to > be > acknowledged for our inter-networked society. See http://replacingtextbooks.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/what-do-mathematicians-and-scientists-do-all-day/ > A better mathematics education might involve less "abstract reasoning", > but > also generally less heralding by teachers of untestable *principles* to > students who are not yet equipped to decide for themselves. Let the > children > decide in what way a mathematical concept is a useful description by > building implicitly ('abstract', 'reason', 'energy', . . . concepts which > bind things together; *Ratio Legis*) from the ground up, *à * la > Bronowski's > *The Ascent of Man *for example. No thank you. A fine expositor, Bronowski, but not for primary school children. Jean Piaget is your man for unraveling how children come to form mathematical ideas. Hint: Not like grownups, and even less as grownups imagine. > Describe before you prescribe . . . or > ascribe to George Bush a *principle* of *punishing failure* to pass > standard tests? ??? See http://samanthadouglas.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/give-100-percent/ > Who or what was Math anyway that ¡ all the children in the world ! really > need to be doing his home work every night? ??? Sour grapes? What mean all these mysteries to me Whose life is full of indices and surds? x²+7x+53 = 11/3 Lewis Carroll, A Tangled Tale > ; D ;<{Þ}}} ...Euclid alone Has looked on beauty bare. Fortunate they, Who though once only, and then but far away Have heard her massive sandal set on stone. Edna St. Vincent Millay > XO > Sean > > > On 26 August 2011 09:19, Steve Thomas <sthom...@gosargon.com> wrote: > >> Alan, >> >> Okay, I'll bite, I can see how you believe the "standard curriculum" is >> way >> off, but what part of their proposed solution do you disagree with and >> where >> do you see as the preferred paths?" >> >> In particular in the article they state "*Science and math were >> originally >> discovered together, and they are best learned together now." which I >> assume >> you agree with based on past writings.* >> >> I can see how you might disagree that learning Latin has no value (I >> have >> learned a lot from attempting to learn smalltalk). >> >> My fear in what the authors suggest is that the "real world" problems >> will >> be like what I saw in 1902 textbook Algebra Text by >> Milne<http://books.google.com/books?id=DhU4AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22William+James+Milne%22&hl=en&ei=27VWTvfzIqjd0QGLo6DRDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-preview-link&resnum=5&ved=0CEEQuwUwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false> >> which I found in an ice cream shop on Cape Cod (I only go to the best >> ice cream shoppes ;) The book was filled with "real world" problems >> (and >> little visualizations or age appropriate concrete tasks/objects kids >> could >> relate to) for ex: >> [image: >> books?id=DhU4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA356&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U1k1CWXvlkhypODoZuTWebG14bH1Q&ci=93%2C458%2C873%2C105&edge=0] >> >> I look forward to your response, the destruction of my existing beliefs >> and >> being freed to learn :) >> >> Stephen >> >> On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 4:38 PM, Alan Kay <alan.n...@yahoo.com> wrote: >> >>> Hi Walter >>> >>> As with a number of other issues in education, I strongly disagree with >>> both of the main opposing sides. Both the standard curriculum, and >>> these >>> guys, are way off IMO. >>> >>> Cheers, >>> >>> Alan >>> >>> ------------------------------ >>> *From:* Walter Bender <walter.ben...@gmail.com> >>> *To:* iaep <iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org> >>> *Sent:* Thursday, August 25, 2011 9:47 AM >>> *Subject:* [IAEP] food for thought... >>> >>> >>> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/opinion/how-to-fix-our-math-education.html?_r=1&ref=opinion >>> >>> -walter >>> >>> -- >>> Walter Bender >>> Sugar Labs >>> http://www.sugarlabs.org >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) >>> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org >>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) >>> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org >>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep >>> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) >> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep >> > _______________________________________________ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep -- Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation. The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination. http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep