It is sad to say, but most modern education methods tend to significantly underestimate the learning power of children.
Skip On Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 1:05 PM, Roger Hui <[email protected]>wrote: > I got myself invited to talk to a grade 7 math class at my kids' school. I > was given 20 minutes. The following is a record of the session of my talk, > with my comments added afterwards. > > 2 + 3 > 5 > 2 - 3 > _1 > 2 * 3 > 6 > 2 % 3 > 0.666667 > 2 % 5 > 0.4 > > NB. I was told that the talk I had was "too advanced", so my goal > NB. was to get across one main simple idea, the following one. > > 2 3 4 + 8 1 7 > 10 4 11 > > NB. a student thought that 2 3 4 was 234, and gave 1052 > NB. as the expected answer. > > 234 + 817 > 1051 > > 2 3 4 - 8 1 7 > _6 2 _3 > 2 3 4 * 8 1 7 > 16 3 28 > > NB. Some students seem quite smart, so I slipped in "insert". > > +/ 2 3 4 > 9 > */ 2 3 4 > 24 > 2+3+4 > 9 > > NB. a student asked about order of operations > > 2 + 4 * 3 > 14 > 2 * 4 + 3 > 14 > (2 * 4) + 3 > 11 > > NB. I wanted to tell them the story of Gauss as a schoolboy > NB. summing the numbers from 1 to 100 in no time flat. > > +/ 1 2 3 4 5 > 15 > 1 2 3 4 5 + 5 4 3 2 1 > 6 6 6 6 6 > 5 * 6 % 2 > 15 > 100 * 101 % 2 > 5050 > 1 2 3 4 ... + 100 99 98 ... > |spelling error > | 1 2 3 4 ... + 100 99 98 ... > | ^ > > NB. a student asked about exponentiation > > 2 ^ 3 > 8 > 4 ^ 3 > 64 > 2 4 ^ 3 2 > 8 16 > > 2 ^ 123 > 1.06338e37 > > NB. A student ask where he can get the software. Another asked "PC or > Mac?" > > At the end, the teacher suggested I go talk to the high school (8-12) > classes. > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > -- Skip Cave Cave Consulting LLC Phone: 214-460-4861 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
