[IAEP] Funding - Full-time educator needed for Sugarlabs

[Edward Cherlin]

On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 9:36 AM, alan c <aeclist at candt.waitrose.com> wrote:
> Bryan Berry wrote:
>
>> We need someone who is thinking about the
>> problems of teaching long division in a constructionist way and the
>> subjunctive tense in English.

I have been thinking about Kindergarten Calculus (see Wiki page) and
about the use of the past passive imperative in Greek (for example,
προσεκβεβλήσθωσαν, let [the sides of the triangle] have been
extended) in Euclidean constructions. Does that qualify? :-)

One way to handle long division in a Constructionist way is to help
students write computer programs to carry out the pencil-and-paper
algorithm on the screen. Or the old electromechanical calculator
algorithm, or the Russian peasant algorithm, and so on. But first we
have to get the idea of division as repeated subtraction across, and
deal with remainders and fractions in the simpler cases. All of this
can also be done using Cuisenaire rods and Montessori materials, or an
abacus. We must experiment to find out the best combinations for
students of varying backgrounds, developmental stages, and aptitudes.
Much information is available on the versions using material objects,
but we have to start fresh on the computer.

If I were to address the subjunctive in normal language drill, it
would be little different from other grammatical constructions. If
need be, we could start a discussion of counterfactual conditionals
with Hofstadter's SubjuncTV, or the corresponding episode of Futurama
with the What-If Machine and the Finglonger. Perhaps a historical
overview would help.

If 'twere done when 'tis done,
Then 'twere well it were done quickly.
--MacBeth

Lay on, Macduff, And damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'
--Also MacBeth

The subjunctive was a regular part of most English dialects until
relatively recently. Nowadays, most children do not hear it used
enough to learn it fully by the automatic methods of childhood, and so
in high school it becomes a laborious and uncertain endeavor, commonly
forgotten as soon as learned. Of course, everybody knows some
instances (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive#Set_phrases),
but few can generalize from them.

Fee, fie, fo, fum
I smell the blood of an Englishman.
Be he alive or be he dead
I'll grind his bones to make my bread.

If I had known you were coming, I would have baked a cake.

> Impressive and succinct definition.
>
> (I would not fit, I had to look up what subjunctive meant    :-)    )
>
> --
> alan cocks
> Kubuntu user#10391
> Linux user #360648
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>



-- 
Edward Cherlin
End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay