I enjoyed Conrad Wolfram's discussion about using computers in math education. The idea of spending more time on analyzing problems, formulating mathematical models, and interpreting solutions in the context of the original problem and spending less time on the actual computation is very appealing. I was lucky enough to have an educational experience like this. Computer programming to solve math problems was a big part of my favorite high school math class. As a teacher I spend a lot of time thinking and worrying about the achievement gap in mathematics. I do have concerns that the increased emphasis on computers will have a negative impact on those without access to such technology.
On the other hand, Wolfram may just be trying to sell Mathematica (which is created by Wolfram). I don't want my students blindly trusting computations done by a computer.
Students already blindly trust their handy, dandy calculators because they fail to understand the order of operations and how the calculator evaluates the expressions they enter. If we moved towards "computer-based math" courses, how will our students function if they cannot even use their calculators correctly? The theory sounds great, but putting something like this into practice for the general student seems difficult. I'm being pulled in different directions by this video.
I enjoyed Conrad Wolfram's discussion about using computers in math education. The idea of spending more time on analyzing problems, formulating mathematical models, and interpreting solutions in the context of the original problem and spending less time on the actual computation is very appealing. I was lucky enough to have an educational experience like this. Computer programming to solve math problems was a big part of my favorite high school math class. As a teacher I spend a lot of time thinking and worrying about the achievement gap in mathematics. I do have concerns that the increased emphasis on computers will have a negative impact on those without access to such technology.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Wolfram may just be trying to sell Mathematica (which is created by Wolfram). I don't want my students blindly trusting computations done by a computer.
ReplyDeleteStudents already blindly trust their handy, dandy calculators because they fail to understand the order of operations and how the calculator evaluates the expressions they enter. If we moved towards "computer-based math" courses, how will our students function if they cannot even use their calculators correctly? The theory sounds great, but putting something like this into practice for the general student seems difficult. I'm being pulled in different directions by this video.
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