4 ms·

I can't believe there's a Wikipedia article about this. The best part: [Prospective elementary school teachers] found it to be a "tricky question", and

I can't believe there's a Wikipedia article about this. The best part: [Prospective elementary school teachers] found it to be a "tricky question", and about two thirds answered "False"

jacquesm 17y ago
Why does that surprise you ? I've had a fair argument with my sons school when he was between the ripe old ages of 7 and 10 about teaching him arithmetic using a calculator instead of learning how to do it by himself. After the third school issued calculator came back to school nicely chopped in half they stopped trying and I managed to teach him what he needed to know, but the really interesting bit here is that once, during all this I quizzed the teacher on his arithmetic skills, hard stuff like 76 and 72/9 and he instantly whipped out his* calculator. It completely floored me, here was someone with a teaching certificate for all the 'basics' not knowing the basics. And I was being accused of being a 'Luddite' for not allowing my child to use modern tools.
- nrr 17y ago
  Whoah! I was actually kept inside for recess in grade school if I tried to use a calculator for arithmetic, and here, your son is being issued a calculator by his teacher. That doesn't mean that using a calculator at his age is necessarily a bad thing, but with the current math curricula worldwide being what they are, I can't think of anything more pedagogically unsound than what you're describing. EDIT: (See also: "A Mathematician's Lament" by Paul Lockhart http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf)
  - jacquesm 17y ago
    It seriously pissed me off, especially the fact that this guy was allowed to teach a subject he didn't know anything about. Calculators have their uses, simple sums are not what they were made for. Fwiw this whole thing played out in rural Canada, Algoma district. I think they must have thought me to be an exceptionally cruel parent for wanting to teach my child how to do sums in his head or on paper for slightly more complicated ones. Fantastic piece by the way, that pdf, you should post that separately.
greendestiny 17y ago
Not just elementary school teachers. I got laughed at in an undergraduate maths class once for asking 'what about zero' in an example that was suppose to be for all even numbers. I actually assumed I was wrong until this submission.

I can't believe there's a Wikipedia article about this. The best part: [Prospective elementary school teachers] found it to be a "tricky question", and about two thirds answered "False"

jacquesm 17y ago

Why does that surprise you ? I've had a fair argument with my sons school when he was between the ripe old ages of 7 and 10 about teaching him arithmetic using a calculator instead of learning how to do it by himself. After the third school issued calculator came back to school nicely chopped in half they stopped trying and I managed to teach him what he needed to know, but the really interesting bit here is that once, during all this I quizzed the teacher on his arithmetic skills, hard stuff like 76 and 72/9 and he instantly whipped out his* calculator. It completely floored me, here was someone with a teaching certificate for all the 'basics' not knowing the basics. And I was being accused of being a 'Luddite' for not allowing my child to use modern tools.

nrr 17y ago
Whoah! I was actually kept inside for recess in grade school if I tried to use a calculator for arithmetic, and here, your son is being issued a calculator by his teacher. That doesn't mean that using a calculator at his age is necessarily a bad thing, but with the current math curricula worldwide being what they are, I can't think of anything more pedagogically unsound than what you're describing. EDIT: (See also: "A Mathematician's Lament" by Paul Lockhart http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf)
- jacquesm 17y ago
  It seriously pissed me off, especially the fact that this guy was allowed to teach a subject he didn't know anything about. Calculators have their uses, simple sums are not what they were made for. Fwiw this whole thing played out in rural Canada, Algoma district. I think they must have thought me to be an exceptionally cruel parent for wanting to teach my child how to do sums in his head or on paper for slightly more complicated ones. Fantastic piece by the way, that pdf, you should post that separately.

greendestiny 17y ago

Not just elementary school teachers. I got laughed at in an undergraduate maths class once for asking 'what about zero' in an example that was suppose to be for all even numbers. I actually assumed I was wrong until this submission.