Reply to really interesting article on math and acceleration

Forum Index » Private & Independent Schools

Reply to "really interesting article on math and acceleration"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote]To 10:53 you said ... " The only calculator permitted is the brain."

Do you believe that if a child can not learn their multiplications tables (which is true for many dyslexic kids) that they do not belong in your clubs or higher level maths? [/quote]

No, I do not believe the child you describe "does not belong in math clubs or higher level maths."  Like with the beginning of the year fitness club memberships, staying power on the math club circuit is similarly driven by discipline and dedication to working through solving increasingly more difficult problems requiring more thinking about the various simple and elegant strategies to a solution rather than brute computation.  In this regard, one doesn't need an additional calculator beyond the human brain -- even to tackle mundane standardized exercises like the PSAT and SAT.

I agree with a previous poster.  The use and dependency on calculators in primary and secondary school math education has crippled the average student's mathematical skills (computation, critical thinking, and problem solving) and dampened our children's appreciation for the beauty of mathematics.

Calculators in elementary, middle and high school math classes are absolutely unnecessary towards a confident mastery of mathematics, intuition and number sense.  In fact, the inappropriate current use of these enabling devices guarantees lack of mastery by high school.  I, too, forbid my children from using these devices and they seem to thrive more nimbling than their handicapped calculator keyboarding peers.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics