This page is a compendium of items of interest - news stories, scurrilous rumors, links, academic papers, damnable prevarications, rants and amusing anecdotes - about LAUSD and/or public education that didn't - or haven't yet - made it into the "real" 4LAKids blog and weekly e-newsletter at http://www.4LAKids.blogspot.com . 4LAKidsNews will be updated at arbitrary random intervals.
Saturday, October 01, 2011
Screening: THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH ABOUT WAITING FOR SUPERMAN – Mon. 24 Oct @ 6:30PM
in superhero comics, exposure to radiation often leads to superpowers-the more
exotic the radiation, the better.
Why not find out if we can create classrooms full of "math-supers" by exposing
them to more exotic math in the first four grades? in particular, I imagine
first graders learning to factor simple quadratics-first with algebra tiles,
then without. Then, I imagine second graders learning about lessthan/greater than, fractions
(fraction circles work great for the initial process), comparing fractions,
then adding them together.
third grade gets to learn about y=f(x) in my vision, and sometimes gets to
solve explicitly for x.
fourth grade gets an early introduction to infinitesimals. Lastly, ever grade in my vision should be given a review of how we go from
counting to addition as a shortcut for counting, from addition to it's
inverse(subraction) and creating negative numbers, from addition to
multiplication (as repeated addition, then the more compressed form), then
using multiplication as a shortcut, multiplication to division, creating the
rational numbers, multiplication to exponentials, and finally exponentials to
square roots-reviewing up to wherever is appropriate.
worst case scenario? slow the whole thing down by a factor of two.
Above all, make sure every wannabe-teacher can demonstrate much of the procedure of getting from addition to exponents.
Ambitious? You bet-it's based on my hypothesis that first graders can learn to factor quadratics more readily/deeply/easily than eigth graders. if that is correct, my plan can succeed. if not, it will fail-but can always be adjusted to start a bit later.
in superhero comics, exposure to radiation often leads to superpowers-the more
ReplyDeleteexotic the radiation, the better.
Why not find out if we can create classrooms full of "math-supers" by exposing
them to more exotic math in the first four grades? in particular, I imagine
first graders learning to factor simple quadratics-first with algebra tiles,
then without.
Then, I imagine second graders learning about lessthan/greater than, fractions
(fraction circles work great for the initial process), comparing fractions,
then adding them together.
third grade gets to learn about y=f(x) in my vision, and sometimes gets to
solve explicitly for x.
fourth grade gets an early introduction to infinitesimals.
Lastly, ever grade in my vision should be given a review of how we go from
counting to addition as a shortcut for counting, from addition to it's
inverse(subraction) and creating negative numbers, from addition to
multiplication (as repeated addition, then the more compressed form), then
using multiplication as a shortcut, multiplication to division, creating the
rational numbers, multiplication to exponentials, and finally exponentials to
square roots-reviewing up to wherever is appropriate.
worst case scenario? slow the whole thing down by a factor of two.
Above all, make sure every wannabe-teacher can demonstrate much of the procedure of getting from addition to exponents.
Ambitious? You bet-it's based on my hypothesis that first graders can learn to factor quadratics more readily/deeply/easily than eigth graders. if that is correct, my plan can succeed. if not, it will fail-but can always be adjusted to start a bit later.