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Going back around the millennium or before when I last taught A level maths at college, we had them in over the summer before term started for a two week intens

• zazen 8y ago
  Thanks for linking that, it's a great read. I really should read more of Gowers' posts. The phrase "memory works far better when you learn networks of facts" was a happy find - I've never been able to express that idea so concisely. I remember discovering they'd moved "differentiation from first principles" away to a further-maths module, as if it's a peripheral, difficult little oddity for the keen kids to hear about. It was the surest, saddest sign that the powers that be had given up on genuinely educating the average A-level maths student.
  • mncharity 8y ago
    > memory works far better when you learn networks of facts One challenge with teaching a more rough-quantitative Fermi-question-ish introduction to sciences, is it's more sensitive to integration and correctness of understanding. With a Trivial-Pursuit memorize and regurgitate style of "understanding", damage from misconceptions and fragmentation of knowledge is local. Whereas rough-quantitative reasoning benefits from being able to... slide around the knowledge space. Jagged misconceptions and fragmented knowledge seriously impedes the sliding. I imagine memory is similar. Nice phrase.