Of Course...A new approach to teaching Math (18 minutes)

[Prof]

http://www.ted.com/talks/conrad_wol...m_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email

 

[wesalbert]

I think he has a point.

My problem with schools are that they don't teach what is needed in the real world.
For instance..
Teach me how to balance a checkbook
Teach me about interest
Teach me about the stock market
Teach me about finances (homes, autos and such)

I think alot of people early on get in trouble with most of these simply because they don't know enough about them.

As for the video, computers are here to stay. Why not teach more with them. I remember back in high school math classes, we weren't allowed to use a calculator. WTF was the point of that. Were calculators going to dissapear?
Now everyone who carries a phone has a calculator with them at all times.

 

[Cruster]

An idea who's time has come can change the world!


I stuggled with math when I was introduced to the "new math" in about 7th grade....a long time ago. It dawned on me after 3 years of struggle that I was going about it all wrong. I finally realized that I was just learning another language and the symbols meant something different than words, and math started to make sense, when it did it was glorious, like coming out of a darkened room into the sunlight. And I'm no mathematician. I was blessed with a physics teacher who was older, near retirement who had the remarkable ability to make one see how the math of physics applied in the real world..it has served me all my life in figuring things out. Much like this gentleman is trying to explain, yet without the current sophistication of computers. I used a slide rule.

Thanks Prof, gave me a moment to say a prayer of thanks to my teachers and a prayer for a better world for ourselves and our children. Good to see something positive here for a change.

 

[VIPR PWR]

I think he has a point.

My problem with schools are that they don't teach what is needed in the real world.
For instance..
Teach me how to balance a checkbook
Teach me about interest
Teach me about the stock market
Teach me about finances (homes, autos and such)

I think alot of people early on get in trouble with most of these simply because they don't know enough about them.

As for the video, computers are here to stay. Why not teach more with them. I remember back in high school math classes, we weren't allowed to use a calculator. WTF was the point of that. Were calculators going to dissapear?
Now everyone who carries a phone has a calculator with them at all times.

My GF is teaching 1st and 2nd graders this year and last. She has designed a unit's on economics. Focusing on real world everyday life that is used in the class throughout the year...

Calculators have taken the place of the brain thinking process...BAN them~!!!!

 

[wesalbert]

Calculators have taken the place of the brain thinking process...BAN them~!!!!

Agreed. You should be able to figure out a tip and such. And be able to figure out that your bank account has x amount in it and I spent money on this, that, and whatever. And I should have about X in my account.

BUT come on, long division and calculus can be done on a calculator and spend the brain power on something useful.

 

[BlackMamba50]

Wow that was great. I have to agree with this guy 110%. I went thru aircraft mechanic school learning how to calculate all kinds of worhless crap that I've hardly ever used in the real world of aviation. Lots of what we do is computer based for calculations. As a mechanic we do a lot of measuring stuff with calipers, micrometers etc. Changing ft-lbs into in-lbs and lots of other unit of measurement. Whats calculated in a book really does differ from real world problems. Books cant account for outside factors. I see a million diff problems on aircraft, each one I find I have to consider conditions and configurations. Lots of factors are involved. Aviation has def made me more computer math savy than I ever realized. Basic calculating is still good to know, but the world of aviation runs off of computers.

 

[Prof]

The old teachers get stuck in their ways (include me in that bunch) but from time to time someone comes along and nudges us out of our box...that is when education moves forward...I try to make my classes a succession of life lessons...some buy it, and some just never get it...

I should have been a teacher all of my life, it is the most rewarding thing I have ever done. All this self actualization and a grand a month to boot!