Check out this article originally from the Wall Street Journal on how the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has abandoned their open-ended, problem-solving, "fuzzy math" approach.
Anyone with an agenda and a squirt gun can make things fuzzy! One of the problems is that people interpret things too drastically. NCTM has never claimed that basic math knowledge was unnecessary; instead, they have said that conceptual knowledge and the ability to APPLY basic skills is necessary. Lots of people could do math and algebra before they ever understood what it was that they were doing (including me.
However, those on the magnetic south of the pendulum (ultra-constructivists) interpreted it to mean "do away with basic skills."
The new drastic interpretation by the magnetic north of the pendulum (ultra-behaviorists) say "Ha! Ha! It didn't work!" However, NCTM still supports the idea that basic skills can be learned in a more problem-centered environment that supports conceptual understanding as opposed to rote memorization.
Sometimes I think you pick things just to get me going.
Do pendulums actually have mangetic poles to make them swing? It's actually the rotation of the earth, right?
I also now have Roger Miller songs stuck in my head!
Anyone with an agenda and a squirt gun can make things fuzzy! One of the problems is that people interpret things too drastically. NCTM has never claimed that basic math knowledge was unnecessary; instead, they have said that conceptual knowledge and the ability to APPLY basic skills is necessary. Lots of people could do math and algebra before they ever understood what it was that they were doing (including me.
ReplyDeleteHowever, those on the magnetic south of the pendulum (ultra-constructivists) interpreted it to mean "do away with basic skills."
The new drastic interpretation by the magnetic north of the pendulum (ultra-behaviorists) say "Ha! Ha! It didn't work!" However, NCTM still supports the idea that basic skills can be learned in a more problem-centered environment that supports conceptual understanding as opposed to rote memorization.
Sometimes I think you pick things just to get me going.
Do pendulums actually have mangetic poles to make them swing? It's actually the rotation of the earth, right?
I also now have Roger Miller songs stuck in my head!