Reply to Achievement gap continues to grow between high- and low-income schools

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "Achievement gap continues to grow between high- and low-income schools"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]Agreed memorization will only get you so far but in many disciplines (physics, biology, economics, history) it is an essential part of the learning process. You cannot do the higher-order thinking unless you can actively recall material. An engineering student cannot solve a complex problem unless she can recall important principles and formulae. A medical doctor cannot diagnose an illness unless she can recall what she learned in anatomy and biochem. Students who take the time to first understand and then commit material to memory are able to think more broadly and creatively especially in a high pressure situation (like an exam). So, to be successful you need to have good teachers, intelligence and a good work ethic.[/quote]

You're very correct that many STEM fields require the ability to absorb and recall large amounts of information. The first year of medical school is brutal based on the sheer amount of information and decision trees that must be absorbed.

The problem is that people who go into education have no exposure to this as a skill. They also probably were the ones who never went past memorization in math. They don't understand that its a combination of recall, fluency and understanding. There is too much bias from US educators that don't understand math toward Chinese and Korean approaches to math which frankly yield far better outcomes.

[b]I think the teachers also miss that the Chinese and Koreans learn math facts in sets. Americans use random flash cards. For American who did this, it is was just memorizing facts. For the Chinese and Koreans learning the tables in sets it provides recognition of patterns and strengthens their ability to manage complex problems later on. 
[/b]

[/quote][/quote]

Didn't mean to put this in quote.

I agree completely with the bolded part. I tried very hard to find my son the addition table and times table in a small card but couldn't find them. It is all random flash card stuff. I don't recall anyone in my childhood had trouble memorizing the times table. I think seeing them in those sets must have made it much easier to learn. Also I don't get the memorizing times table up to 12 business. In China, it is up to nine and the table will only show a triangle because half of the rectangle are the same so that students naturally understand for multiplication the order of the two numbers doesn't matter. 
[/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