[IAEP] food for thought...

[mokurai at earthtreasury.org]

Sorry, Sean, but as Wolfgang Pauli used to say, "Not even wrong."

On Thu, August 25, 2011 6:19 pm, Sean Linton wrote:
> Perhaps recently the culture of mathematics education, at least since
> Newton's *Principia *

Euclid's Elements, please. Principia is a book of physics, not math, and
you are late by two millennia. Newton's full title is Mathematical
Principles of Natural Philosophy.

> has been just that, *principles* handed down
> a perceived hierarchy, from a *prince*. May be based on
> genuinely useful descriptions and definitions, but as the Garfunkel
> article
> in the NYTimes suggests not really reflective of the pan-archy in which we
> find ourselves today, where many types of mathematical skill set need to
> be
> acknowledged for our inter-networked society.

See
http://replacingtextbooks.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/what-do-mathematicians-and-scientists-do-all-day/

> A better mathematics education might involve less "abstract reasoning",
> but
> also generally less heralding by teachers of untestable *principles* to
> students who are not yet equipped to decide for themselves. Let the
> children
> decide in what way a mathematical concept is a useful description by
> building implicitly ('abstract', 'reason', 'energy',  . . . concepts which
> bind things together; *Ratio Legis*) from the ground up, *Ã * la
> Bronowski's
> *The Ascent of Man *for example.

No thank you. A fine expositor, Bronowski, but not for primary school
children. Jean Piaget is your man for unraveling how children come to form
mathematical ideas. Hint: Not like grownups, and even less as grownups
imagine.

> Describe before you prescribe . . . or
> ascribe to George Bush a *principle* of *punishing failure* to pass
> standard tests?

???

See http://samanthadouglas.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/give-100-percent/

> Who or what was Math anyway that ¡ all the children in the world ! really
> need to be doing his home work every night?

???

Sour grapes?

What mean all these mysteries to me
Whose life is full of indices and surds?
x²+7x+53
= 11/3

Lewis Carroll, A Tangled Tale

> ; D

;<{Þ}}}

...Euclid alone
Has looked on beauty bare. Fortunate they,
Who though once only, and then but far away
Have heard her massive sandal set on stone.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

> XO
> Sean
>
>
> On 26 August 2011 09:19, Steve Thomas <sthomas1 at gosargon.com> wrote:
>
>> Alan,
>>
>> Okay, I'll bite, I can see how you believe the "standard curriculum" is
>> way
>> off, but what part of their proposed solution do you disagree with and
>> where
>> do you see as the preferred paths?"
>>
>> In particular in the article they state "*Science and math were
>> originally
>> discovered together, and they are best learned together now." which I
>> assume
>> you agree with based on past writings.*
>>
>> I can see how you might disagree that learning Latin has no value (I
>> have
>> learned a lot from attempting to learn smalltalk).
>>
>> My fear in what the authors suggest is that the "real world" problems
>> will
>> be like what I saw in 1902 textbook Algebra Text by
>> Milne<http://books.google.com/books?id=DhU4AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22William+James+Milne%22&hl=en&ei=27VWTvfzIqjd0QGLo6DRDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-preview-link&resnum=5&ved=0CEEQuwUwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false>
>>   which I found in an ice cream shop on Cape Cod (I only go to the best
>> ice cream shoppes ;)  The book was filled with "real world" problems
>> (and
>> little visualizations or age appropriate concrete tasks/objects kids
>> could
>> relate to) for ex:
>> [image:
>> books?id=DhU4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA356&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U1k1CWXvlkhypODoZuTWebG14bH1Q&ci=93%2C458%2C873%2C105&edge=0]
>>
>> I look forward to your response, the destruction of my existing beliefs
>> and
>> being freed to learn :)
>>
>> Stephen
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 4:38 PM, Alan Kay <alan.nemo at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Walter
>>>
>>> As with a number of other issues in education, I strongly disagree with
>>> both of the main opposing sides. Both the standard curriculum, and
>>> these
>>> guys, are way off IMO.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> Alan
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>> *From:* Walter Bender <walter.bender at gmail.com>
>>> *To:* iaep <iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org>
>>> *Sent:* Thursday, August 25, 2011 9:47 AM
>>> *Subject:* [IAEP] food for thought...
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/opinion/how-to-fix-our-math-education.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
>>>
>>> -walter
>>>
>>> --
>>> Walter Bender
>>> Sugar Labs
>>> http://www.sugarlabs.org
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>>> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>>> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
> _______________________________________________
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
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-- 
Edward Mokurai
(默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر
ج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks