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From: crm@duke.cs.duke.edu (Charlie Martin)
Newsgroups: comp.ai,comp.edu,comp.cog-eng
Subject: Re: Becoming CAI literate
Message-ID: <11128@duke.cs.duke.edu>
Date: 20 Feb 88 19:01:55 GMT
References: <26@dogie.edu <3340@killer.UUCP <8194@eleazar.Dartmouth.EDU
Organization: Duke University CS Dept.; Durham, NC
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Posted: Sat Feb 20 14:01:55 1988
In-reply-to: roberta@eleazar.Dartmouth.EDU's message of 18 Feb 88 22:43:58 GMT
Posting-Front-End: GNU Emacs 18.47.4 of Sun Aug  9 1987 on duke (berkeley-unix)

In article <8194@eleazar.Dartmouth.EDU roberta@eleazar.Dartmouth.EDU (Roberta Millstein) writes:

   Path: duke!mcnc!uvaarpa!umd5!ames!aurora!labrea!decwrl!decvax!dartvax!eleazar!roberta
   From: roberta@eleazar.Dartmouth.EDU (Roberta Millstein)
   Newsgroups: comp.ai,comp.edu,comp.cog-eng
   Date: 18 Feb 88 22:43:58 GMT
   Article-I.D.: eleazar.8194
   Posted: Thu Feb 18 17:43:58 1988
   References: <26@dogie.edu <3340@killer.UUCP
   Reply-To: roberta@eleazar.Dartmouth.EDU (Roberta Millstein)
   Organization: Dartmouth College, Hangover,NH
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   Xref: duke comp.ai:1385 comp.edu:1004 comp.cog-eng:484


    In article <3316@killer.UUCP elg@killer.UUCP (Eric Green) writes:

       Spending hours and hours improving your speed of computing
       numbers was worthwhile before the advent of $5 calculators. But I
       would much rather that our school children be taught MATHEMATICS
       for those multitude of hours. Sure, teach them computation
       skills. But don't make mere arithmetic computation the only thing
       taught to our students, like it is today (at least in this
       state...  from grades 1 through 6, adding, subtraction,
       multiplication, and division, day after day... blech!). Is it any
       wonder that the majority of the students in the local "gifted and
       talented" program despise "math" class, calling it boring and
       repetitive?


   I was in one of those "gifted and talented" programs at that age and
   I too thought math class was boring and repetitive...that was because
   generally more drill was involved in regular classes than was
   necessary.  That's why they *have* gifted and talented programs, to
   provide a more stimulating learning environment.  However, that
   doesn't mean that some good drilling in arithmetic wasn't useful--I
   am a firm believer that a having a good strong base in things like
   mathematics makes all the difference when you have to conquer more
   complicated concepts, like algebra, calculus, etc.  The fact that the
   students were bored was a function of the fact that they were in a
   program that was too easy for them, not that the drills were useless.
   For those that need the hours of drill to become proficient, however,
   they are very worthwhile.

There exists a neurological disfunction analogous to dyslexia that makes
calculation difficult: hours of drill at which the person fails over and
over again does not make arithmetic skills better, but rather simply
convinces the person of their lack of any mathematical talent.

I think the real solution here --assuming it can be done-- is to somehow
recognize individual needs and teach or train to best meet those needs.
Saying, for example, calculators are good or bad in general doesn't seem
to be all that helpful.
-- 
Charlie Martin (crm@cs.duke.edu,mcnc!duke!crm)