> Before responding to the discussion, I thought I would put out a
>math joke. If you don't like jokes about mathematicians, fast
>forward to the serious stuff. Joke: Three statisticians went
>deer hunting. They had not been in the woods long until they spotted
>a deer. Two of the statisticians took a shot. One shot went about
>one foot in front of the deer and the other about a foot behind the
>deer. The third statistician gleefully exclaimed "We got it!"
>From previous post: "How do young people learn mathematics? How
>should such knowledge (?) relate to the activities, expectations, and
>understandings of teachers." Certainly, the question of how
>people learn mathematics needs to be at the heart of all of our
>debates as well as in light of a changing world, what mathematics
>should be taught (since in any curriculum we barely scratch the
>surface of mathematical thinking or skills). The first time I
>incorporated graphics calculators into college algebra, I was most
>shocked by students who had decent procedural skills but very little
>understanding of the connection of graphs to the skills. I was
>further amazed how difficult it was for them to make the
>connections. Some rote memory, whether that be memorizing algebraic
>procedures or memorizing key strokes, will no doubt always be a piece of
>mathematics instruction. The problem with either a traditional
>or technology approach comes when the content of the course itself is
>predominately rote procedures and students are not expected to interpret
>and apply their knowledge to situations other than ones that follow
>specific templates. Such teaching may build short-lived skills, not
>it is not likely to build mathematical thinking. Some students get
>the skills and mathematical thinking in spite of the system. We're
>the ones who teach math. Martha
wayne
Wayne F. Mackey
Director, Math Resource Center
ScEn 301
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
501-575-7661
wmackey@comp.uark.edu
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