mathematical thinking- more than just number crunching
Thad Martin
hi,
this year i've been focusing on aquiring a more conceptual understanding
of mathematic. i know math is a perennial topic and has been covered at
great length in many many homeschool groups, but i want to understand
math beyond the popularly accepted notion of number crunching. so this
email is for anyone interested in math as something like a 'science of
patterns', where numbers are just one on the many 'mathematical objects'
used.
i have a long way to go before i have any real grasp on this, but i
thought i should pass on what i've found to date.
first there are some very good software programs which i found (among
the miriade out there) that break away from the traditional approach to
math.
Like science, mathematics is taught more as an array of facts and
algorithms to memorize than as a habit of inquiry that includes
discussion, argument, and exploration.
programs we have and like are:
by lucas learning - pit droids & yoda's challenge
by broderbund - logical journey of the zoombini
i'm sure there are more but so far this is what we have found.
in the back of the pit droids 'owner's manual' there are some very
interesting web sites and i think that they are all well worth a look
(also free stuff available).
http://www.terc.edu/
http://www.aimsedu.org/
http://www.cs.uidaho.edu/~casey931/mega-math/
http://www.scottkim.com/ -puzzle master
Perhaps one of the best-kept secrets about mathematics is that it is
easy to get a feel for the kinds of questions that are at the wide-open
frontiers of knowledge. We already know that students enjoy speculating
about what happened to the dinosaurs, pondering the shape of the
universe or imagining the Big Bang. We think that they can get as much
intriguing puzzlement from wondering about the size of infinity and
finding out that there are some very simple-sounding problems that would
take huge computers longer than the estimated age of the universe to
solve. We are concerned that so much of the ``good stuff'' doesn't make
it's way into the math classrooms until graduate school. -mike
fellows; mega- math
-susan
austin,tx
this year i've been focusing on aquiring a more conceptual understanding
of mathematic. i know math is a perennial topic and has been covered at
great length in many many homeschool groups, but i want to understand
math beyond the popularly accepted notion of number crunching. so this
email is for anyone interested in math as something like a 'science of
patterns', where numbers are just one on the many 'mathematical objects'
used.
i have a long way to go before i have any real grasp on this, but i
thought i should pass on what i've found to date.
first there are some very good software programs which i found (among
the miriade out there) that break away from the traditional approach to
math.
Like science, mathematics is taught more as an array of facts and
algorithms to memorize than as a habit of inquiry that includes
discussion, argument, and exploration.
programs we have and like are:
by lucas learning - pit droids & yoda's challenge
by broderbund - logical journey of the zoombini
i'm sure there are more but so far this is what we have found.
in the back of the pit droids 'owner's manual' there are some very
interesting web sites and i think that they are all well worth a look
(also free stuff available).
http://www.terc.edu/
http://www.aimsedu.org/
http://www.cs.uidaho.edu/~casey931/mega-math/
http://www.scottkim.com/ -puzzle master
Perhaps one of the best-kept secrets about mathematics is that it is
easy to get a feel for the kinds of questions that are at the wide-open
frontiers of knowledge. We already know that students enjoy speculating
about what happened to the dinosaurs, pondering the shape of the
universe or imagining the Big Bang. We think that they can get as much
intriguing puzzlement from wondering about the size of infinity and
finding out that there are some very simple-sounding problems that would
take huge computers longer than the estimated age of the universe to
solve. We are concerned that so much of the ``good stuff'' doesn't make
it's way into the math classrooms until graduate school. -mike
fellows; mega- math
-susan
austin,tx