Christopher Green wrote:
(On top of the fact that I think it is plain silly to expect each
student to effectively recapitulate the entire history of mathematics by
themselves in the course of a basic public education.)
This is what I find to be the weird Haeckelian notion that a student
could recapitulate in a relatively short time the development of
something that took generations to accomplish.
Here is my anecdote of the day. I had an advisee that was taking an
intro physics course that was being taught in this manner. It was a
100-person lecture hall. The faculty member would stand at the front
with some materials (like magnets, iron filings, batteries, wires).
Students were supposed to shout out experimental manipulations that
would allow them to deduce various electromagnetic principles. The
faculty member would give no help or advice and the students were
forbidden to use their textbook. Talk about angry students and plenty
of chaos...
Ken
(After a couple of weeks of hearing tales from the class, I advised my
student to drop the course and take a conventional class later.)
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Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Department of Psychology http://www.psych.appstate.edu
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
USA
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