blackstar992 (August 28, 2008 at 4:24 pm)

that second way is much better teachers want me to learn that 1st standerd version but im just better of w/ the second

RedwoodTheElf (August 27, 2008 at 9:42 pm)

Where to begin? Ipods, Playstations, Home PCs, etc...I've seen gradeschool kids walking around with PDAs for cryin out loud. The number of gadgets that fill our culture in the 21st century is immense...it's been a cliche since the release of the VCR that the kids are better with the gadgets than the adults.

SssThsss (August 27, 2008 at 8:21 pm)

Still, you can't asume everyone knows how to use it. Some reference can't really hurt. And what gadgets are you referring to?

RedwoodTheElf (August 27, 2008 at 2:47 am)

Learning to use a calculator is (no pun intended) Childs' play compared to the kind of gadgets kids are already using by the fifth grade these days. A whole chapter on the thing is a waste of book space.

SssThsss (August 26, 2008 at 11:26 pm)

What's wrong with a reference on how to use the thing? All in all, it should be the teacher who should or should not allow the students to use calculators. But there's nothing wrong in knowing to use it. If, in any case, the students use calculators on their homeworks, their grades on the tests will show it. And that's pretty much how it works when you have someone do your homework for you.

RedwoodTheElf (August 26, 2008 at 1:45 pm)

The POINT is, Calculators shouldn't be allowed UNTIL the student understands what multiplication and division are, and how to do it effectively and consistantly without one. For an INTRO math book to advocate use of a calculator for anything more complicated than Sesame Street Math is irresponsible.

SssThsss (August 26, 2008 at 5:02 am)

I partly agree with you, ronvoa101, but this video is about 4th-5th grade books. It is true, children NEED to learn the basics before they learn how they work. But the video disqualifies the other books' way of teaching, since it's supposedly "useless and misleading". And that is a BIG mistake. Children should first learn what, theorically, multiplication and division ARE, shown different methods for solving them, and THEN move on to memorizing what's more convenient(not necessarily the old way)

SssThsss (August 26, 2008 at 4:56 am)

--- which is exactly what the first of books tries to teach. What mutliplying is, what the properties are, and how you can know what the hell you are doing when you use any algorithm at all. THAT is knowing how math works, not locking oneself into an ages old algorithm because it's what all parents know.

SssThsss (August 26, 2008 at 4:55 am)

That's complete bullshit. Really. A calculator doesn't let anyone make bail for learning how, say, cartesian axes work, how to tell wheter an expression is a polynome, and all other wonderful traits of math. However, it allows you to avoid wasting time doing 3478x132. And believe me, when you know what multiplication actually is, using a calculator is much preferrable to manual algorithms. But what the video says is that children should only learn the algorithms, and not the reasoning beyond---

FATCACAK (August 26, 2008 at 2:32 am)

you're totally right. if you are prepared to be totally blown away, i'll show you where they tear apart Euclidean geometry (which is what is taught in schools now) meet Johanes Kepler: wlym com/~animations/harmonies/index.php