I am reminded of the "Evolution of Teaching" which appeared in the Monthly a few
years back:
1960's:
A peasant seels a bag of potatoes for $10. His costs amount to 4/5 his selling
price. What is his profit?
1970's:
A farmer sells a bag of potatoes for $10. His costs amount to 4/5 his selling
price, i.e. $8. What is his profit?
1970's (new math)
A farmer exchanges a set P of potatoes with a set M of money. The cardinality
of the set M is equal to $10 and each element of M is worth $1. Draw 10 big
dots representing the elements of M. The set C of production costs is comprised
of 2 big dots less than the set M. Represent C as a subset of M and give the
answer to the question: What is the cardinality of the set of profits?
1980's
A farmer sells a bag of potatoes for $10. His production costs are $8 and his
profit is $2. Underline the word "potatoes" and discuss with your classmates.
1990's
A farmer sells a bag of potatoes for $10.00. His production costs are 0.80 of
his revenue. On you calculator graph revenue versus costs. Run the "POTATO"
program to determine the profit. Discuss the result with students in your
group. Write a brief essay that analyzes this example in the real world of
economics.
To which I might add a "Vision 200":
2000's
Log onto Potato.org/commerce/profit. Double click on the potato marketplace
simulator. After interacting with this site go to the Potato chat room and
discuss your results with the other students in your learning group. When you
are ready, download Potato.qiz - you will have a time limit commensurate with
your learning ability quotient.
And a short commentary:
Cooperative learning runs the risk of sacrificing the "see farther because
you're standing on the shoulders of others" benefit for the sake of a sort of a
Kaczinskiesque preference for self reliance. (Feel free to rephrase that more
eloquently) On the other hand, I very much encourage group learning outside of
lecture time.
Geoffh
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