I'm going to skip past the part where I apologize for my long absence. I've been busy, let's not over-analyze it.
The most blog-worthy event in recent happenings was my attendance at a T3 conference for pre-service math teachers. I'm not sure "conference" is the right word; in truth, it was a two day sales pitch. I was invited to participate by the faculty adviser for the math ed program. Mostly I was doing it for the free TI-84+ graphing calculator I would allegedly receive at the end of it. ( I still haven't received it, by the way.)
There was only one other pre-service teacher there. Everyone else came from local middle and high schools. The presenter/salesperson is a full-time professor at Drake University in Ohio, but I'd wager that she gets a healthy stipend from Texas Instruments, as well. She spent two days demonstrating all of the fancy things you can do with their various products. The central focus was on the Navigator hardware, which allow all calculators to be networked together. The teacher can view all activity on each student's machine at the press of a button. That image can be projected onto a screen or better yet, onto a Smartboard. It was all glitz and glamor, and the
audience ate it up. I was less than impressed.
The stuff she was showing us was neat, I'll admit it. But it wasn't as revolutionary as everyone seemed to think it was. There are any number of softwares available that could do the same thing with desktop computers. And those machines would still be able to perform a multitude of other tasks, rather than merely being graphing calculators. I asked if TI produced similar software, and was told that they did. Guess what. It costs exactly the same as a calculator.
The slogan of the event was "TI Cares." That's even their phone number: 800-TI-CARES. According to the presenter, Texas Instruments makes all of this technology available to schools because it wants to improve the world, and help train future employees. The fact that they are making money hand over fist doesn't factor into it at all.
If you know me, you know I love technology. I will use it in the classroom, and use it abundantly. I was just hoping to learn something new about how best to use it. Instead, what I got was a tutorial on several of the latest models. There was no discussion on where low-tech might still be superior. No statistics on the efficacy of technology heavy programs. The equipment she brought didn't even work consistently enough for us to do all of the activities that she had planned. All in all, I think I got out of it exactly what I had intended to- a new calculator. Except, I don't even have that yet, so I guess the joke's on me.
Showing posts with label tech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tech. Show all posts
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
They Don't Know Numbers
"He doesn't know numbers; he only knows beads." -Matthew Broderick as Richard Feynman, Infinity
It seems the Arab world is attempting to take a step backward in order to go forward. They are adopting an adding technology that goes back millenia.
Mental arithmetic is a form of calculation that does not involve the use of any physical or external gadgets, such as calculators or computers. The skill is developed early through the use of the abacus. Eventually children are trained to calculate large numbers in seconds with accuracy and speed.
Though the popular image of an abacus is correctly attributed to the Chinese, the actual pebble replacement system was used first in Babylon. It still is the fastest pre-electronic way to do simple arithmetic, beating even today's standard algorithm. Though, the last time I checked, it is both a physical and external gadget. The above program, known as Universal Concept of Mental Arithmetic System (UCMAS,) allegedly uses the abacus to improve mental arithmetic. For the life of me, I don't see how the abacus could possible be useful for this. It only requires students to be able to count as high as the base of their numbering system (i.e. ten) and then to understand the concept of place value. Sure it's really fast by analog standards, but if it's speed you're looking for, go digital and electronic. If you want to teach mental math, teach some form of pencil/paper algorithm and provide memory drills.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Mathematics is Rated M for Mature
Pay close attention. I am about to suggest something that will make many of my math contemporaries put down their protractors and take up pitchforks against me. Before I get to the point, I'm going to attempt to outline the path that has led me to this heresy.
The following is a collection of ideas that have been espoused at one time or another on this blog.
1. The Chinese say that in order to give each of your students a cupful of knowledge, you must have a pitcherful. Clearly, the people who determine the educational standards for elementary school teachers disagree. I recently had an opportunity to peruse a Praxis II practice test for elementary ed, and I was astounded at the difficulty level. The hardest question on the test involved little more than correct application, not derivation, but application of the Pythagorean Theorem. I think it is important to point out that the ancient Babylonians had already mastered this much. I appreciate the fact that there is much more that goes into teaching this just content knowledge. There is all the pedagogy and psychology, especially with the little ones. But the knowledge of how to teach becomes useless without mastery of what you are teaching, and in many cases, what they are teaching is how to hate math. And their students are learning it well.
2. Every time a new technology edges out an old one, traditionalists cry foul. What of the information that will be lost? What if this new technology is suddenly unavailable? This is the argument that naysayers employ against the use of digital calculators today. It is a valid argument, which is merely to say that it is not an outright lie. If a student is taught to perform arithmetic primarily by calculator, than that student forfeits the ability to use the "standard" pencil and paper algorithm, should the need arise.
As I type this, I am within sight of three calculators. The first is the built in application on the computer itself, the second is on my cellular phone, and the third is an actual hand-held with a total of 24 buttons. This machine, which probably retails for two dollars, has the ability to perform 5 arithmetic operations, can store values between steps, and can perform any calculation that would be required of the average person. Calculators are so ubiquitous that to suddenly be without them would mean one of two things, either society has collapsed or you are stranded on a desert island. In the first situation, I suspect there would be more to worry about than the ability to do long division, and in the second, simple finger calculation should suffice for survival.
Progress requires that we give up knowledge that our parents and grandparents depended upon. For example, can you start a fire without a match, can you even start a fire with a match, can you identify edible or poisonous plants, can you drive a stick shift, and the list goes on. When we trade that knowledge, it is with the understanding that we get something more from the deal. Maybe that is a dangerous assumption, but it has brought us safely down from the trees and into the modern era.
3. Before Andy made this comment, it had never occurred to me that the ability to understand math might depend on the maturity of the student. I have read so many stories on prodigies like Gauss, that I had assumed even the most advanced math could be grasped by a child, would that they had the right teacher. Now I am starting to see this may not be true. I have said many times that mathematics is the science of patterns. In order to see pattern, you have to be able to make connections between often disparate things, and that requires a healthy base of facts and experience from which to draw. Maybe children struggle with math simply because they do not have the mental and emotional background necessary to bring meaning to the algorithms.
4. The design process is just that, a process. Ideas seldom spring fully formed from the minds of their creators. Instead, there is a tedious and painstaking struggle to turn the initial concept into the finished product, and there are often heart-wrenching decisions to make along the way. As you watch the deleted scenes on any DVD, imagine how the director felt as the cut was made. You will notice that sometimes a different variation of the scene appears in the final cut, but often times it has simply been deemed unworthy and removed in it's entirety. It just wasn't working, and the faulty part had to be removed for the good of the whole.
Now for the synthesis.
Brace yourself. I propose that math education be delayed until the secondary level. I know that sounds crazy, but the more I think about it the more I love the idea. The two reasons we teach arithmetic are practical application for its own sake and as a precursor to later concepts. As I mentioned earlier, the practicality issue can be solved with a rudimentary explanation of the various operations followed by a brief tutorial on the use of a calculator. The issue of laying a foundation is much trickier. I can't even begin to argue that concepts touched on in arithmetic will not carry over to algebra and beyond. The latter is just a generalized version of the former. What I am suggesting is that school children lack the emotional maturity that makes that transition work. They have no concept of delayed gratification. They do not see that they are working toward something which may not become clear for several years. All they understand is that they are being forced to agonize over multiplication tables and long division and fractions, when they could just punch in the numbers on a calculator and be done with it. To them, it must seem like torture, and who's to say it isn't.
The other factor that conspires to defeat students from enjoying math is the poorly prepared elementary teachers. They often times don't understand themselves exactly how what they are teaching is laying the framework for what is to come, so all they can do is drill the lesson as it appears in their workbook. Reform math programs, which are well intentioned, often make the problem worse, because they require a greater mastery of subject matter from the instructor, not less.
Rather than spending those elementary years teaching students to despise math, we could devote that time to other ventures. Whether the extra space is filled up by music or reading or recess is a question for another day and another blogger. When the students reach the secondary level, then we can begin teaching real mathematics. It's true that they will lack the aforementioned foundation, but they will also lack the ingrained aversion to math. It should be a simple matter to teach long division algorithms along side polynomials or multiplying fractions with rational functions. Students will then be in a position to appreciate what the are learning and why they are learning it.
The math education system is broken. Certain links in the chain have rusted with time. Opinionated cognoscenti from all sides are locked in heated debate over how to repair it, but I think perhaps the solution may instead require total removal of faulty parts.
Or have I gone crazy?
The following is a collection of ideas that have been espoused at one time or another on this blog.
- The math education requirements set for aspiring and current elementary school teachers are far too relaxed.
- Calculators are the latest in a series of tools, each adopted in turn for there superiority.
- "It takes a certain maturity level to comprehend certain types of math." (Comment from Andy)
- When engaged in the design process, sometimes weak links can simply be removed.
1. The Chinese say that in order to give each of your students a cupful of knowledge, you must have a pitcherful. Clearly, the people who determine the educational standards for elementary school teachers disagree. I recently had an opportunity to peruse a Praxis II practice test for elementary ed, and I was astounded at the difficulty level. The hardest question on the test involved little more than correct application, not derivation, but application of the Pythagorean Theorem. I think it is important to point out that the ancient Babylonians had already mastered this much. I appreciate the fact that there is much more that goes into teaching this just content knowledge. There is all the pedagogy and psychology, especially with the little ones. But the knowledge of how to teach becomes useless without mastery of what you are teaching, and in many cases, what they are teaching is how to hate math. And their students are learning it well.
2. Every time a new technology edges out an old one, traditionalists cry foul. What of the information that will be lost? What if this new technology is suddenly unavailable? This is the argument that naysayers employ against the use of digital calculators today. It is a valid argument, which is merely to say that it is not an outright lie. If a student is taught to perform arithmetic primarily by calculator, than that student forfeits the ability to use the "standard" pencil and paper algorithm, should the need arise.
As I type this, I am within sight of three calculators. The first is the built in application on the computer itself, the second is on my cellular phone, and the third is an actual hand-held with a total of 24 buttons. This machine, which probably retails for two dollars, has the ability to perform 5 arithmetic operations, can store values between steps, and can perform any calculation that would be required of the average person. Calculators are so ubiquitous that to suddenly be without them would mean one of two things, either society has collapsed or you are stranded on a desert island. In the first situation, I suspect there would be more to worry about than the ability to do long division, and in the second, simple finger calculation should suffice for survival.
Progress requires that we give up knowledge that our parents and grandparents depended upon. For example, can you start a fire without a match, can you even start a fire with a match, can you identify edible or poisonous plants, can you drive a stick shift, and the list goes on. When we trade that knowledge, it is with the understanding that we get something more from the deal. Maybe that is a dangerous assumption, but it has brought us safely down from the trees and into the modern era.
3. Before Andy made this comment, it had never occurred to me that the ability to understand math might depend on the maturity of the student. I have read so many stories on prodigies like Gauss, that I had assumed even the most advanced math could be grasped by a child, would that they had the right teacher. Now I am starting to see this may not be true. I have said many times that mathematics is the science of patterns. In order to see pattern, you have to be able to make connections between often disparate things, and that requires a healthy base of facts and experience from which to draw. Maybe children struggle with math simply because they do not have the mental and emotional background necessary to bring meaning to the algorithms.
4. The design process is just that, a process. Ideas seldom spring fully formed from the minds of their creators. Instead, there is a tedious and painstaking struggle to turn the initial concept into the finished product, and there are often heart-wrenching decisions to make along the way. As you watch the deleted scenes on any DVD, imagine how the director felt as the cut was made. You will notice that sometimes a different variation of the scene appears in the final cut, but often times it has simply been deemed unworthy and removed in it's entirety. It just wasn't working, and the faulty part had to be removed for the good of the whole.
Now for the synthesis.
Brace yourself. I propose that math education be delayed until the secondary level. I know that sounds crazy, but the more I think about it the more I love the idea. The two reasons we teach arithmetic are practical application for its own sake and as a precursor to later concepts. As I mentioned earlier, the practicality issue can be solved with a rudimentary explanation of the various operations followed by a brief tutorial on the use of a calculator. The issue of laying a foundation is much trickier. I can't even begin to argue that concepts touched on in arithmetic will not carry over to algebra and beyond. The latter is just a generalized version of the former. What I am suggesting is that school children lack the emotional maturity that makes that transition work. They have no concept of delayed gratification. They do not see that they are working toward something which may not become clear for several years. All they understand is that they are being forced to agonize over multiplication tables and long division and fractions, when they could just punch in the numbers on a calculator and be done with it. To them, it must seem like torture, and who's to say it isn't.
The other factor that conspires to defeat students from enjoying math is the poorly prepared elementary teachers. They often times don't understand themselves exactly how what they are teaching is laying the framework for what is to come, so all they can do is drill the lesson as it appears in their workbook. Reform math programs, which are well intentioned, often make the problem worse, because they require a greater mastery of subject matter from the instructor, not less.
Rather than spending those elementary years teaching students to despise math, we could devote that time to other ventures. Whether the extra space is filled up by music or reading or recess is a question for another day and another blogger. When the students reach the secondary level, then we can begin teaching real mathematics. It's true that they will lack the aforementioned foundation, but they will also lack the ingrained aversion to math. It should be a simple matter to teach long division algorithms along side polynomials or multiplying fractions with rational functions. Students will then be in a position to appreciate what the are learning and why they are learning it.
The math education system is broken. Certain links in the chain have rusted with time. Opinionated cognoscenti from all sides are locked in heated debate over how to repair it, but I think perhaps the solution may instead require total removal of faulty parts.
Or have I gone crazy?
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Phoning It In
Evidently some software developers at the University of Haifa have created what they are referring to as "Mobile Math Labs." Essentially their software can be installed on any cellular phone, turning it into a graphing/solving calculator. The hope is that students will be able to combine other phone features, like video, to create and perform math experiments. In effect they will be able to create and analyze videos a la Dy/Dan with a single hand-held device. Of course, some will see this as just another way for lazy kids to cheat on their tests. I'll leave it for you to decide. The software is available for download now.
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