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I was helping my 9th grade step brother with his math homework, and I've noticed his math classes are no longer divided into subjects they way they where when I

by learc83 14y ago

I was helping my 9th grade step brother with his math homework, and I've noticed his math classes are no longer divided into subjects they way they where when I was there 10 years ago (algebra, geometry, algebra II, trig/precalc, calculus, discrete math) His math book jumped around so much, that one week he was working on probability, the next basic geometry, and the next simple factoring. It looked exactly like someone wrote a whirlwind study guide that covered just enough to pass some very specific standardized test.

zmoazeni 14y ago
Personally, I would have preferred a breadth-first approach to mathematics when I was in school. All of those concepts are related, but it's very difficult to make those connections when you are "only learning [algebra|geometry|etc]" in isolation. Edit: related http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/03/math-for-programmers.html http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/03/math-for-programmers...
- learc83 14y ago
  This definitely isn't some kind of holistic approach to math. It's basically just here memorize this probability forumla, and the algorithm for multiplying two brackets together, because that's what you're getting tested on at the end of the year. I could understand if it was something like showing how bracket multplication works by adding in an example from geometry like this http://math1sfun.wordpress.com/category/algebra/expanding-brackets/ http://math1sfun.wordpress.com/category/algebra/expanding-br... But it's nothing like that at all.
rsanchez1 14y ago
It is still split up that way, but I think that is for more advanced students. For students not focusing on math, they may just make a text that generalizes on many topics without focusing on a specific subject.
- learc83 14y ago
  >It is still split up that way, but I think that is for more advanced students. He's in honors math, i.e., the most advanced math available for his grade level.

by learc83 14y ago

zmoazeni 14y ago

Personally, I would have preferred a breadth-first approach to mathematics when I was in school. All of those concepts are related, but it's very difficult to make those connections when you are "only learning [algebra|geometry|etc]" in isolation. Edit: related http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/03/math-for-programmers.html http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/03/math-for-programmers...

learc83 14y ago
This definitely isn't some kind of holistic approach to math. It's basically just here memorize this probability forumla, and the algorithm for multiplying two brackets together, because that's what you're getting tested on at the end of the year. I could understand if it was something like showing how bracket multplication works by adding in an example from geometry like this http://math1sfun.wordpress.com/category/algebra/expanding-brackets/ http://math1sfun.wordpress.com/category/algebra/expanding-br... But it's nothing like that at all.

rsanchez1 14y ago

It is still split up that way, but I think that is for more advanced students. For students not focusing on math, they may just make a text that generalizes on many topics without focusing on a specific subject.

learc83 14y ago
>It is still split up that way, but I think that is for more advanced students. He's in honors math, i.e., the most advanced math available for his grade level.