reducing fractions

[Greg Scott]

> their entire school career.  You are obviously just playing at it.
> The techniques you describe *might* fit your home where you have a
> rapt audience of one or two.  They will most definitely NOT work in
> the real world of the classrooom.
Well, my older son has ADD, Asberger's Syndrome, and perhaps a few mixed
learning disorders thrown in just for variety. In spite of all that, he just
graduated from Georgia Tech (ranked about 10th in nation for engineering)
with a 3.4 gpa in Mechanical Engineering. So while you are certainly right
about the appropriateness of my "rant" to a tutorial environment, I am
firmly convinced that a "traditional" classroom approach would have murdered
my son's love of structure, patterns, problem solving, logic, and other
fundamental characteristics far more important than the ability to accurate
add fractions. The thesis at the core of my rant is that the arithmetic
calculations of fractions are far less important than the mathematics. My
son understood the concept of prime numbers at many levels. Incapable of
accurate arithmetic calculations, he understood the 11 laws of algebra in
3rd grade, or before, as can many children. The mechanics of the actual
arithmetic were to boring to a guy who fully understood the concept. He
already knew that drudgery is for computers. (Believe me, I tried to hone
his calculation skills. But I chose to keep his mathematics alive at the
expense of his arithmetic. That was clearly the choice, regardless of if you
believe that such a condition might exist.) Capitalize on what you can do,
and leverage your strengths to overcome your weaknesses. I taught my son to
do this. With a rigid inflexible curriculum, kids are bludgeoned into hatred
of a subject that they could love. Yes, I used to teach in a conventional
classroom. I quit because I loved teaching, and found myself incapable of
doing so in that context. So there is a substantial kernal of truth in your
assessment. Just don't overlook the substantial kernal of truth in mine.


<dannyboy at here.com> wrote in message
news:h6vjps85s7dhf7kfjrvm1prndnn3dnq4sq at 4ax.com...
> On Tue, 15 Aug 2000 12:35:02 GMT, "Greg Scott" <home at gregscott.com>
> wrote:
>
> >Factors? We don't need no steenking Factors!
> >Pardon me while I indulge my propensity for a rant:
> >1. Explain the concept. Then have them write a computer program to do it.
If
> >they can do it, they'll learn something. If not, they might also.
>
> Nonsense.  THE fundamental concept with fractions is that m/n = am/an.
> To understand that one must see factors of numerator and denominator.
>
> Write a computer program to do what they do not yet understand
> ....how?  More nonsense.
>
> >2. Don't bother. The average man on the street barely understands prime
> >numbers and factoring, or doesn't really understand it at all. So just
> >concentrate on survival skills. Teach them to use a calculator and use
> >decimals. Forget fractions.
>
> More nonsense.  How then will they deal with rational expressions in
> algebra without a knowledge of the process with numbers?
>
> >I've been doing database design for years,
> >and I still don't grok all of the laws of database normalization.
Sometimes
> >I do, sometimes I don't.
>
> Imagine what you could do if you did!!
>
> >Above all, have fun.
>
> Provided that "fun" does not replace real learning ...which it most
> time does.  Replace "fun" with "enjoyment"  of what you do and you
> have it though.
>
> >8. I home schooled my kids.
>
> Then gave up and sent them to a real school.
>
> There is one HELL of a difference between tutoring a kid or two at
> home in early grades, and tutoring an entire differentiated class for
> their entire school career.  You are obviously just playing at it.
> The techniques you describe *might* fit your home where you have a
> rapt audience of one or two.  They will most definitely NOT work in
> the real world of the classrooom.
>
> Dan.


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