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RE: Everybody Counts
Posted:
Mar 5, 1995 7:08 PM
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[snipped]
3. Do you think that differences in accomplishment in school mathematics
are due primarily to differences in innate ability, to differences in
individual effort, or to differences in opportunity to learn?
[snipped]
The differences in accomplishment is school mathematics as in other school
subjects is due to a multitude of things - firstly, we have only recently
begun to plan for the varied styles of learning that our students bring to
us. Since we were generally only teaching to one style of preferred
learning, we were basically preventing many students from achieving their
potential. Secondly, students come with a multitude of different life
experiences, and if teachers do not seek to learn what the students know
and what they do not know so that they can teach to the need,the students
will probably not learn, because they are missing links, or because the
materials is repetitious.
Does innate ability play a part? Perhaps it does, but if so, it is nowhere
near as important as we have led people to believe, and may infact ony be
related to rate of learning. Differences in opportunity are definitely the
most pronounced differences.
Eileen
Eileen Abrahamson
0191enel@informns.k12.mn.us
Edw. Neill Elemetary
13409 Upton Ave. So.
Burnsville, MN 55337
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