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Re: Saxon Calculus
Posted:
Oct 11, 1998 3:09 PM
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Victor Steinbok wrote:
> Why does it seem that the attitude of any working mathematician OR
> school administrator is that cognitive research is a waste of time?
> Is it only because they think, in both cases, that actual research
> migh threaten their unquestioned authority on educational matters?
> OTOH, it seems that many teachers want to learn this kind of
> information but do not know where to look, nor do they usually have
> the time. Perhaps if schools of education and certification programs
> placed a little more emphasis on learning issues instead of History of
> Education in America we might get better students in return.
As a mathematician and teacher, I don't find cognitive research to be a
waste of time. However, I would have to say that at least 95% of the
time one spends *reading about* cognitive research *is* a waste of time.
There is a great deal of chaff and very little grain. See below.
> Every book on education will espouse an opinion since there is no
> theory of the learning process (or the educational process, for that
> matter) that we can all agree on. All books and research papers are
> "opinions"--they do not become "facts" until enough people are
> persuaded by the claims' validity.
The opinions are part of the chaff. But even worse is the notion that
opinions `become "facts"' when enough people are persuaded of their
validity. We do not establish fact through persuasion, but through
demonstrated repeatability of cause and effect.
--Lou Talman
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