kitchen table math, the sequel: question

Friday, August 10, 2007

question

Why are all these people reflecting on their practice?

Do we know?





Posted by at

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why are they reflecting? Two reasons:

1. Looking inward is faster and easier than evaluating what's come before, selecting the best and applying it appropriately to the situation. That takes time and requires you to know lots and lots of things! It's inefficient to reinvent the wheel, but when the wheel is tiny - "you" as opposed to billions of years of combined humanity before you - it's a quick solution.

2. Words like "reflective" sell and work well on the lecture/consultancy circuit.

August 10, 2007 at 6:20 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

good grief

August 10, 2007 at 6:24 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

You have an answer!

August 10, 2007 at 6:24 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

That takes time and requires you to know lots and lots of things!

TRUE!

August 10, 2007 at 6:24 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

I LOVE IT!

August 10, 2007 at 6:25 PM
le radical galoisien said...

For example, I have just reflected and realised after reading a post on your old website, that I have not done a single real math problem (appropriate to anywhere near my level) in months.

The other day I wondered whether I could use calculus could solve a particularly tedious (otherwise elementary) algebra problem, only to realise, I had half forgotten how to integrate. When I had gotten a 5 for AP Calc not long before.

Well, hopefully I won't get massacred this fall, when I take it as a course in college (within my high school schedule!)

Maybe I need to get myself a textbook from Singapore too.

August 10, 2007 at 7:05 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

You're still in high school???

Good Lord.

August 11, 2007 at 5:16 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

This makes me not want to SHARE MY PLAN.

August 11, 2007 at 5:16 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

Did you go to school mainly in Singapore?

August 11, 2007 at 5:16 AM
Instructivist said...

"It's inefficient to reinvent the wheel, but when the wheel is tiny - "you" as opposed to billions of years of combined humanity before you - it's a quick solution."

LOL!

August 11, 2007 at 11:36 AM
le radical galoisien said...

Does your plan include competition? 0_o

I've had four stages of schooling, two in Singapore and two in the US. I went to a Singaporean preschool/kindergarten for several years, which I think gave me some foundation to excel in US elementary school when I moved at the age of 5.

But after a while, my mother started saying, "the math you do here is nothing compared to the stuff you would be doing in Singapore," and when we went back for the occasional trip, she would buy assessment books for me... but they weren't major factors in my education.

After my parents split up I moved back to Singapore at the age of ten (primary five). That was a major transition, because it was a major paradigm shift in the way I did math. For the first half of the year, I got pretty low scores (66 - 67 for mathematics, which is a B according to the British grading system). I actually liked the problems (and my mother kept scolding me for the low scores, and she was worried the principal would regret her decision to take me in), so in the latter half of Primary Five something clicked for me, so my average scores became 85-90 for mathematics, which is a Band 1 grade (A). I never did get past that A* (above 91) barrier for mathematics! I always seemed to miss it by one mark! And seeing how many times I would get a mark off for a careless oversight, it was very frustrating!

But I took my PSLE and got a 250 aggregate, and went on to have 2 years of secondary school. I moved back to the US in January 2005. So excluding my first five years in Singapore (birth, preschool, etc.) I have had really only four years of formal Singaporean education. But I think the mixed experience from both countries definitely affects the way I do math.

August 11, 2007 at 2:51 PM

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