bummer...in my calc classes in college we used the rate of change to determine time of death for a corpse. I also remember using the prime vector.....crap, what was the name of that thing.....gradient! Using the gradient to locate the center of gravity in a 747.
Pretty cool, and helped keep us interested. Those real world examples had to be dumbed down a bit of course (didn't have to consider other factors for the corpse, for example), but it was still cool. On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 9:44 AM, Scott Stroz <[email protected]> wrote: > > I think hit the nail with your head. > > Its not so much that kids are taught stuff they cannot use in the > 'real world', but rather they are not shown real world examples of > where they would need to sue what they are learning. > > On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 10:32 AM, Justin Scott <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > >> You can't go back 10 or 20 or 30 years later and expect > >> to do well on any of these tests. > > > > Indeed, and I think that was the point. Out of all his experience as > > an adult outside of school, he never had to use any of those skills so > > they got rusty or were lost to time. If he never had to use those > > skills, even with all of the responsibilities he has, what's the point > > of teaching them in the first place? > > > > As a "veteran" programmer, one of the things I tell newer developers > > is to review the tag/function/method reference from time to time. Not > > to memorize the whole thing, or to know every argument to every > > function, but just to be aware of what is available. If you have a > > specific problem to solve, you can go back to the reference for the > > details later, just be aware that it's there. > > > > One of the favorite questions in math classes (at least for me) was > > "what are we going to use this for later in life?" The teachers would > > see this as a smart-ass comment and give a smart-ass response like, > > "you need it to pass the test at the end of the semester." I don't > > think I ever once got an actual example of a practical application of > > much of what we were being taught. They focused so much on theory and > > specifics that they skipped over practical application entirely > > (more-so with math, but in other areas as well). > > > > My belief is that if schools toned down the theory and specifics and > > focused more on real life examples of problems and solutions then we'd > > be better off. Let the kids know what tools are available to them and > > show them how to apply those tools to real problems they will face in > > life. Rather than test on solving quadratic equations, test on which > > equations or problem-solving techniques should be used in which > > situations. If they ever have a need to use any of those tools later > > on, references are readily available. > > > > > > -Justin > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:344287 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
