Haim
Posts:
7,807
Registered:
12/6/04
|
|
Re: Enrichment
Posted:
Aug 16, 2012 10:24 PM
|
|
Peter Duveen Posted: Aug 16, 2012 6:23 PM
>Bob, Chandry, this is what I am getting at.
>
>It seems to me that calculus is placed on a pedestal as
>something unachievable by the masses. But looking at it,
>I see a lot of material in the calculus that could be
>approached by students on a sixth or seventh grade
>level. If they can graph a straight line and a parabola,
>they are game for calculus, at least some calculus.
No they are not. Teaching calculus to 6th and 7th graders would be like teaching a dog to dance,
http://youtu.be/Nc9xq-TVyHI
So, in this video the dog appears to enjoy the music and to know how to dance. Michael Coren thinks this is almost certainly impossible
http://www.amazon.com/How-Dogs-Think-World-Looks/dp/0743222334/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345168269&sr=8-1&keywords=how+dogs+think
In other words, you can get the kids to go through the motions (to some extent), but what you have actually accomplished remains in considerable doubt.
Why do I feel this way? Because that is what actually goes on a lot of the time (maybe most of the time) in college. That is the reason for the Calculus Reform Movement. So, your hypothesis, Peter, must be that you can more easily accomplish with middle school kids than with college students. This seems unlikely.
The problem you are having, Peter, is what I have called "Mathematician's Disease",
http://mathforum.org/kb/message.jspa?messageID=7656422
Haim
Shovel ready? What shovel ready?
|
|
