[IAEP] maths instruction

[Kathy Pusztavari]

Bloom's Taxonomy reminds me of committees that never get anything done in
the Life of Brian.

Direct Instruction reminds me of the people that get in there and get the
job done.

Here is the Direct Instruction guide:

http://www.zigsite.com/PDFs/rubric.pdf

-----Original Message-----
From: Maria Droujkova [mailto:droujkova at gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2009 7:48 AM
To: Kathy Pusztavari
Cc: iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org
Subject: Re: [IAEP] maths instruction

On Thu, Apr 30, 2009 at 10:34 AM, Kathy Pusztavari
<kathy at kathyandcalvin.com> wrote:
> I'm of the direct instruction camp.  If skills and concepts are not 
> build upon each other correctly, you will get kids that either learn a 
> concept wrong (then they have to unlearn it) or fail and then feel 
> like they are stupid.  Having a kid with autism, I've seen both.  
> Unfortunately, I've seen both with typical kids or even smart ones under
poor teaching practices.
> This is especially true for teaching reading - Project Follow Through 
> showed that direct instruction was by far the most effective in teaching
period.
>
> What I'm suggesting is taking effective practices and putting them in 
> a computer model.  Using short videos or whatever (flash like 
> animation) to teach concepts.

Strongly systematic approach is a good general principle for sciences and
math. In my mind, the strength of computers is in helping kids tinker,
construct, interact with microworlds and with each other, remix, tag, and
otherwise be active. Learning happens through doing.
Nobody learns anything deeply enough the first time they are exposed;
understanding keeps growing and growing through time, as learners are
ACTIVELY DOING something related to that concept.

In math in particular, you need to have a very healthy balance of all levels
of learning activities (see Bloom's Digital Taxonomy
http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Bloom%27s+Digital+Taxonomy), which computers
definitely can support. Good math learning software should combine three
things: the ability to create your own mathematical objects in scaffolded
environments (with videos or animations that can be a part of scaffolding);
the ability to share these objects with other learners in your local
community of practice; and tools for connecting these "example spaces" or
"lesson environments" with mathematics at large, including other topics and
past traditions of doing math and other local communities - that is, with
larger communities of mathematical practices.



--
Cheers,
MariaD

Make math your own, to make your own math.

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