There are some good comments being posted in the comments section for the Washington Post article “Fast Learners” which was published yesterday (online Friday). Check it out here.
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Thanks for posting this article. I agree that it’s depth, not acceleration that’s needed for math instruction. When I was in school, graphing calculators were never used (not even at the college level). We did use scientific calculators for some things in higher maths, but only as an aid (like when calculating sine and cosine or when calculating with pi). I went as high as the 3rd semester of calculus in college with only the use of a scientific calculator.
I think on the whole, while I can’t argue much in the way of math instruction, I still find math instruction overall lacking. Have I ever mentioned Lockhart’s Lament to you before? It’s a completely new way of viewing math.
http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf
It’s a wonderful essay by a mathematician that (not so succinctly, but beautifully) illustrates the whole point of math as that many math educators completely miss. Math done right is supposed to make things easier, not more complicated. But sure enough, the piecemeal approach that math takes in school complicates matters unnecessarily.
It’s not the math teacher’s fault, I suppose. They aren’t mathematicians who study math for years and years and see the connections that are there. They have been given the same fragmented approach and they never learned to connect the dots.
How parents can be so non-chalant about such issues is beyond me though. The ones in the story that don’t seem to have a problem with the way things are done really worry me. I fear I care way much more than most parents (my oldest is only in first grade and I wonder how things will be for her in time).
I guess I ought to start preparing now for the differences of opinion.
Wait, I take it back, my husband used graphing calculators in the college level for engineering classes, but I had gotten by with the scientific calculators for the math and science classes I took. Sorry, had to clarify. We aren’t that old that they didn’t exist when we went to college.