Perhaps recently the culture of mathematics education, at least since Newton's <i>Principia </i>has been just that, <i>principles</i> handed down a perceived hierarchy, from a <i>prince</i>. May be based on genuinely useful descriptions and definitions, but as the<font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Garfunkel </span></font>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. <div>
<br></div><div>A better mathematics education might involve less "abstract reasoning", but also generally less heralding by teachers of untestable <i>principles</i> 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; <i>Ratio Legis</i>) from the ground up, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><em style="font-style: normal; ">à</em></span> la Bronowski's <i>The Ascent of Man </i>for example. Describe before you prescribe . . . or ascribe to George Bush a <i>principle</i> of <u>punishing failure</u> to pass standard tests?</div>
<div><br></div><div>Who or what was Math anyway that ¡ all the children in the world ! really need to be doing his home work every night? </div><div><br></div><div>; D</div><div>XO</div><div>Sean<br><div> <br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
On 26 August 2011 09:19, Steve Thomas <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:sthomas1@gosargon.com">sthomas1@gosargon.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Alan,<div><br></div><div>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?"</div>
<div><br></div><div>In particular in the article they state "<span style="font-family:georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size:15px;line-height:22px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255)"><em style="text-decoration:inherit;line-height:inherit;font:inherit;display:inline;zoom:1">Science and math were originally discovered together, and they are best learned together now." which I assume you agree with based on past writings.</em></span></div>
<div><font face="georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif"><span style="font-size:15px;line-height:22px"><br></span></font></div><div><font face="georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif"><span style="font-size:15px;line-height:22px">I can see how you might disagree that learning Latin has no value (I have learned a lot from attempting to learn smalltalk).</span></font></div>
<div><font face="georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif"><span style="font-size:15px;line-height:22px"><br></span></font></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size:15px;line-height:22px">My fear in what the authors suggest is that the "real world" problems will be like what I saw in 1902 textbook </span><a href="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" target="_blank">Algebra Text by Milne</a> <span style="font-family:georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size:15px;line-height:22px"> which I found in an ice cream shop on Cape Cod </span><span style="font-family:georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size:15px;line-height:22px">(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:</span></div>
<div><div class="gmail_quote"><div><img alt="books?id=DhU4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA356&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U1k1CWXvlkhypODoZuTWebG14bH1Q&ci=93%2C458%2C873%2C105&edge=0" title="books?id=DhU4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA356&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U1k1CWXvlkhypODoZuTWebG14bH1Q&ci=93%2C458%2C873%2C105&edge=0"></div>
<div><font face="georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif"><span style="font-size:15px;line-height:22px"><br></span></font></div><div><font face="georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif"><span style="font-size:15px;line-height:22px">I look forward to your response, the destruction of my existing beliefs and being freed to learn :)</span></font></div>
<div><font face="georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif"><span style="font-size:15px;line-height:22px"><br></span></font></div><div><font face="georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif"><span style="font-size:15px;line-height:22px">Stephen</span></font></div>
<div><div></div><div class="h5">
<div><br></div><div>On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 4:38 PM, Alan Kay <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:alan.nemo@yahoo.com" target="_blank">alan.nemo@yahoo.com</a>></span> wrote:</div></div></div></div><div><div></div><div class="h5">
<div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div><div style="color:#000;background-color:#fff;font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:14pt"><div><span>Hi Walter <br></span></div><div><br><span></span></div><div><span>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.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Cheers,</span></div><div><br><span></span></div><span>Alan</span><div><br><blockquote style="border-left:2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255);margin-left:5px;padding-left:5px">
<div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:14pt"><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><font face="Arial" size="2"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight:bold">From:</span></b> Walter Bender <<a href="mailto:walter.bender@gmail.com" target="_blank">walter.bender@gmail.com</a>><br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">To:</span></b> iaep <<a href="mailto:iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org</a>><br><b><span style="font-weight:bold">Sent:</span></b> Thursday, August 25, 2011 9:47 AM<br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">Subject:</span></b> [IAEP] food for thought...<br></font><div><div></div><div><br><div><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/opinion/how-to-fix-our-math-education.html?_r=1&ref=opinion" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/opinion/how-to-fix-our-math-education.html?_r=1&ref=opinion</a><br>
<br>-walter<br clear="all">
<br>-- <br>Walter Bender<br>Sugar Labs<br><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">http://www.sugarlabs.org</a><br><br>
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IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)<br>
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<br>_______________________________________________<br>
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