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I really hope your child's teacher doesn't just mark it right or wrong, but provides a counterargument for a flawed answer. The question of "how do you teach o
by j2kun 12y ago
I really hope your child's teacher doesn't just mark it right or wrong, but provides a counterargument for a flawed answer.
The question of "how do you teach one to answer 'why?'" is a difficult one, but here's what I understand is the established way of doing it. You give the student a problem, they think about it for a long time, and give their answers as to why. You discuss their answers with them, and then after they revise their answers, you present an elegant and correct answer. Then you repeat.
It's interesting, for example, that nobody asks how to teach one to answer "why" when you're, say, analyzing the motives of a character in some piece of literature. What do they do? They discuss, then they revise, and at some point the teacher presents either a good piece of student work or some other established ideas. Is mathematics really that different just because in the end you can tell with certainty that an answer is correct or incorrect? English teachers have one on one conversations with their students about their work, and they make students have discussions with each other about their thoughts on a daily basis. Why can't math teachers do the same?
I think part of the reason math is plagued by such questions is that most people don't realize that a proof (aka the answer to "why?") is not just correct or incorrect, but has aesthetic properties. Nevertheless, it's clear that mathematics is set apart from this on day one. Just compare any high school math syllabus to a syllabus in another subject [1]
[1]" http://j2kun.svbtle.com/what-would-math-class-look-like-if-it-were-a-fine-art http://j2kun.svbtle.com/what-would-math-class-look-like-if-i...
- noobermin 12y ago>math is careening towards you and you should brace for impact Hilarious, another great article from Mr. Kun.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 12y ago> I really hope your child's teacher doesn't just mark it right or wrong, but provides a counterargument for a flawed answer. His son's teacher isn't going to do this. First, she didn't design the question... even if some public school teachers have the capacity to do this, they don't have the time or resources to design curriculums. Second, if she didn't design it, she likely does not have the wit to be able to argue about it without doing research. Third, public schools aren't places where they make time for each student trying to inspire genius, she really is just checking boxes down a list all semester. Fourth, doing so won't improve his scores on a standardized test. Finally, there was only two inches of blank space for the child to write an answer, she definitely isn't going to write him a thesis on the margins of the paper. Public education is blind idiot god, handing down edicts from on high, some dumb and some smart, some sane and others insane, some incomprensible and some not. And often enough, all of these at the same time. The bell will ring, it will be time for a new lesson, and in that one he will be taught to never leave any multiple choice question unanswered because "they unanswered questions are scored just the same as wrong ones, you might as well guess".
- j2kun 12y agoI gave a two-inch "proof" elsewhere in this comment thread. You don't need a thesis to reason about even numbers.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 12y agoYou're not a school teacher, are you?
- j2kun 12y agoYour comments reek of pessimism and resignation. How can you hope to educate anyone with that attitude?
- NoMoreNicksLeft 12y agoI have two young children, they won't attend a public school, or a private one for that matter. I'm very optimistic about their education. However, there is no hope of educating masses of children in large assembly-line public school systems, because those systems aren't designed to educate.