John M. Flanigan <johnf@hawaii.edu> The equation is the final arbiter.
Assistant Professor, Mathematics --Werner Heisenberg
Kapi'olani Community College The scoreboard is the final arbiter.
4303 Diamond Head Road --Bill Walton
Honolulu HI 96816 History is the final arbiter.
(808) 734-9371 --Edward Gibbon
On Wed, 27 Oct 1999, Kirby Urner wrote:
>
> "Cohen, Deborah" <dcohen@jt.cc.va.us> wrote:
> >separate somehow from the calculations). Also, have you looked lately at
> >the majority of these word problems - they are contrived, dull problems that
>
> Indeed. Contrived. Dull. That's it in a nutshell.
>
> >it is stupid!! If we can't come up with more realistic problems to justify
> >some of the skills we're teaching, we have to begin to ask ourselves if
> >these skills are necessary). After being fed a steady diet of this kind of
>
> Agreed. Too much of the math we teach is just the math you need to
> be a math teacher. That's a very specialized approach.
>
> Curriculum writers need to do a better job of working backwards from
> the actual challenges facing people in different walks of life, where
> math applies.
>
> >them to think that word problems that involve calculation are frequently
> >stupid, so they don't recognize a real-life sort of reasonable problem when
> >they finally see one.
>
> Good point.
>
> >important as others - one quick example - when I started teaching 10 years
> >ago, teaching interpolation for trig and logarithmic functions was thought
> >to be sacred - fortunately, $5 calculators finally made folks realize that
> >interpolation is no longer a necessary skill to teach).
>
> Exactly. Lots of material is dead weight, carried forward in time
> only because the teacher knows how to do it, and so thinks this
> must be critical knowledge to pass along. But teachers need to be
> students forever. Always say to yourself: "there's some very
> critical, important mathematics out there which my students
> really need today -- and I don't yet know it myself, but I plan to
> learn it and share it, because that's my job, and I'm good at my
> job."
>
> Kirby
>
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