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> ... you can simply ask your kid some enlightening questions. It's probably a lot more interesting for them that way. Part-time (law) professor here. Thinkin

by dctoedt 11y ago

> ... you can simply ask your kid some enlightening questions. It's probably a lot more interesting for them that way. Part-time (law) professor here. Thinking of enlightening questions is often quite difficult.

lordCarbonFiber 11y ago
This is where I think technology and legislation can really be helpful. A standardized structure for encouraging the top achievers combined with a national database of templates and problems to accommodate the wide spectrum of students would go along way.
grossvogel 11y ago
> Thinking of enlightening questions is often quite difficult. And this is a big piece of the problem with homework. Enlightening questions could be asked as homework, but various forces create an emphasis on quantity over quality. As someone who's taught arithmetic to lots of adults, I use 'enlightening' in a broad sense. I hope most of us agree that grasping arithmetic requires practice (in or out of class), but that's not the same as repetition. Even simple arithmetic problems can be varied in deliberate ways that draw students' attention to those variations and at the same time reinforce the underlying pattern.
ajuc 11y ago
Asking about their assumptions on simple examples is a good start. And then asking about situation that break these assumptions. It's a little evil but that makes it fun:) Example from the time I helped sister clear confusion between accelration and velocity: - what's acc and vel of a rock lying on a ground (not 0 - a vector 0) - ... of a car slowing down (vectors that poin in opposite directions) - ... of a rock swinging on a rope (non-parallel vectors, one of them changing in direction) I'm feeling for the teachers that have to teach something to 30+ kids without having the time to ask them about their wrong assumptions. Must be frustrating as hell when you see they don't understand, but can't help them with the time you have.

by dctoedt 11y ago

lordCarbonFiber 11y ago

This is where I think technology and legislation can really be helpful. A standardized structure for encouraging the top achievers combined with a national database of templates and problems to accommodate the wide spectrum of students would go along way.

grossvogel 11y ago

> Thinking of enlightening questions is often quite difficult. And this is a big piece of the problem with homework. Enlightening questions could be asked as homework, but various forces create an emphasis on quantity over quality. As someone who's taught arithmetic to lots of adults, I use 'enlightening' in a broad sense. I hope most of us agree that grasping arithmetic requires practice (in or out of class), but that's not the same as repetition. Even simple arithmetic problems can be varied in deliberate ways that draw students' attention to those variations and at the same time reinforce the underlying pattern.

ajuc 11y ago

Asking about their assumptions on simple examples is a good start. And then asking about situation that break these assumptions. It's a little evil but that makes it fun:) Example from the time I helped sister clear confusion between accelration and velocity: - what's acc and vel of a rock lying on a ground (not 0 - a vector 0) - ... of a car slowing down (vectors that poin in opposite directions) - ... of a rock swinging on a rope (non-parallel vectors, one of them changing in direction) I'm feeling for the teachers that have to teach something to 30+ kids without having the time to ask them about their wrong assumptions. Must be frustrating as hell when you see they don't understand, but can't help them with the time you have.