Brings to mind a dialogue I had with my advisor at ed school. (She has a masters in math from a good school, but I think it was the PhD in education that may have altered her thinking):
I had asked her about the Praxis II exam in math that is required for certification. She advised me to get a graphing calculator since it is required for the test.
I remarked:
Yes, I'm aware of the graphing calculator need. I've seen the sample questions which require that one visually inspect a graph of a polynomial to see where the zero's of the polynomial are in order to answer the question in less than 30 seconds. Seems the rudiments of math are fast becoming a lost art.
Her reply:
It's not that the rudiments are becoming a lost art. More that what is rudimentary is changing in a technology-based, age-of- information. For example, as technology facilitates the generation of graphs and other complex visual representations, students need to be able to interpret them. There was a time when writing down the plus and minus symbols was considered a "crutch". What is "basic" or "fundamental" or "rudimentary" is by no means fixed and never has been.
And so as long as we're revisiting oldies but goodies, I offer this quip from Steve H as a rejoinder:
I wish to heck I could put my hands on the board email from a couple of years back in which the Board president, who works at Morgan & Stanley, said the reason they were adopting Trailblazers was that "math has become language-based."
This was back when I first met Carolyn, before we started writing ktm.
Brings to mind a dialogue I had with my advisor at ed school. (She has a masters in math from a good school, but I think it was the PhD in education that may have altered her thinking):
ReplyDeleteI had asked her about the Praxis II exam in math that is required for certification. She advised me to get a graphing calculator since it is required for the test.
I remarked:
Yes, I'm aware of the graphing calculator need. I've seen the
sample questions which require that one visually inspect a graph
of a polynomial to see where the zero's of the polynomial are in
order to answer the question in less than 30 seconds. Seems the
rudiments of math are fast becoming a lost art.
Her reply:
It's not that the rudiments are becoming a lost art. More that what is rudimentary is changing in a technology-based, age-of-
information. For example, as technology facilitates the generation of graphs and other complex visual representations, students need to be able to interpret them. There was a time when writing down the plus and minus symbols was considered a "crutch". What is "basic" or "fundamental" or "rudimentary" is by no means fixed and never has been.
And so as long as we're revisiting oldies but goodies, I offer this quip from Steve H as a rejoinder:
"Has anyone checked what 8 x 7 is lately?"
Has anyone checked what 8 x 7 is lately?
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorites!
I quote that a lot.
I love instructivist's line about educrats being infatuated with change.
I wish to heck I could put my hands on the board email from a couple of years back in which the Board president, who works at Morgan & Stanley, said the reason they were adopting Trailblazers was that "math has become language-based."
ReplyDeleteThis was back when I first met Carolyn, before we started writing ktm.
math has become language based
ReplyDeleteGeem now whose fault is that?
ReplyDeletehaha
ReplyDeleteoh gosh - hey!
if you're around, did you see the latest Board Meeting Guidelines???
I'm going to have to have an attorney on retainer just to deal with my School Board.
ReplyDelete