[switching to chat for this tangent] On Wed, Jul 8, 2015 at 11:21 AM, robert therriault <[email protected]> wrote: > I recently read this blog post by Dan Meyer, a math teacher, who > uses the analogy of teaching a skill before there is a need to > giving the students aspirin before they have a headache. It is worth > a read for anyone looking to change their paradigm of instruction! > > http://blog.mrmeyer.com/2015/if-math-is-the-aspirin-then-how-do-you-create-the-headache/ ... > Any suggestions?
The math class where I picked up ideas fastest was in high school where I had the same teacher for calculus, physics and chemistry. All of the classes tied together and you could easily see why you would want to use the abstractions. Another high school class where I picked up a lot of useful ideas was electronics - there, again, we were switching back and forth between practical "trying things out" and theoretical approximations for planning what we wanted to try. The projects were all simple, but they really helped keep the ideas in perspective. Just being able to see voltage vs. time (on an oscilloscope) or energy vs. frequency (on a spectrum analyzer) helped clarify a number of issues. But building small things - a flashing light, or a noisemaker, or a filter - also helped keep things in perspective. More generally, classes which include "lab work" or similar exercises tend to be the better ones. And teachers who are brave enough to address topics relevant to other classes tend to be the better teachers. At least, in my experience. Thanks, -- Raul ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
