Search All of the Math Forum:
Views expressed in these public forums are not endorsed by
NCTM or The Math Forum.
|
|
Math Forum
»
Discussions
»
Inactive
»
calc_reform
Notice: We are no longer accepting new posts, but the forums will continue to be readable.
Topic:
More on why we need math, etc.
Replies:
3
Last Post:
May 1, 2001 12:21 PM
|
 |
|
|
More on why we need math, etc.
Posted:
Apr 30, 2001 10:31 AM
|
|
Lin M. asks:
"What do we do
(1) to be sure that students who will become mathematicians, know math (and technology)and
(2) to be sure that students who need to use math in other disciplines (which is of course the larger group), know how to do their math with technology?
There is something left out:
(3) to be sure that students who need to use math in other disciplines know math.
Note the difference between (2) and (3).
I hope that "calculus reform" (or "math education reform") hasn't devolved to "using technology." An equation solver will tell students that the solution to 3x=6 is x=2; yet, I still get students (in college!) who, in effect, subtract 3 from both sides instead of dividing, when they do it by hand. That is not satisfactory; technology does not help here.
Also, in response to Victor, I think that high school and college are not just surveys of what subjects are *about*, but rather, should give students a taste of what it's like to *do* these subjects. Students should spend some time *being* physicists, musicians, historians, sociologists. That means doing some nitty-gritty. Go outside: there's a big tree or building. How high is it? What happens when you increase the length of a penduluum; sure it goes slower, but by about how much? How does a medical examiner know how long ago a body expired? (Related: let's measure some arsenic in drinking water.) The fact is, these are good things to do, you need math to do them, and you need to understand the math. If you'll pardon the slang, Magliozzi is full of it; we ought to know better than to let him get away with it, or to try to put the best face on his bald statements.
Math teacher self-loathing is getting tiresome.
__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/
------------------------------------------------------------
-HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE
To UNSUBSCRIBE from the calc-reform mailing list, send mail to:
majordomo@ams.org
with the following in the message body:
unsubscribe calc-reform your_email_address
-Information on the subject line is disregarded.
|
|
|
|