In a message of Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:19:52 MST, Charles Cossé writes: >On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 2:52 PM, Laura Creighton <[email protected]> wrote: >> In a message of Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:51:40 MST, Charles Cossé writes: >> >> The interesting question (to me at least) is whether he would be willin >g >> to rewrite a + b + c as a + c + b >> >> and then if he would be willing to rewrite >> a + b as a - (-b) > > > > >Yes, I confirmed that it was definitely due to having been repeatedly >told the simple rules for order of operations; he observed that "there >was something to be multiplied" and believed that he couldn't proceed >until he had carried out that multiplication, which immediately led to >a gridlock situation for him ... and he would have been okay rewriting >like you did there since there was no multiplication. Guess it's just >one of those many things that you don't realize kids think until you >come across it ... and then it's a surprise > >Charles
I'm teaching 10 and 11 year olds here in Sweden, but over the summer holidays or on weekends in optional classes. I am always curious as to how the rest of the world teaches things. Can you ask him for a favour for me and see if he would be willing to accept that: 82 + (15 * 10) - 51 is the same as (15 * 10) + 82 - 51 or if the * is really stopping him cold. And thank him very much for me for answering my question, if he is willing. Laura _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
