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Re: What's "Developmentally Appropriate"?



I only skimmed the book. What I noticed was the use of a few
exceptional examples to "hype" his thesis. They are youngsters'
solutions of problems*. There's a word for it, which I've forgotten.
Cohen has developed a cottage industry as evidenced by a google search.

bc



* Which I couldn't solve at the present on my own!


Jack Uretsky wrote:

Hi all-
After a quick look - lots of hype, not much meat. Usual mistake.
He focuses on "what I tell 'em", while the real issue is "what do they
get." Interestingly enough, his first topic is "infite series" which he
apparently doesn't understand himself (See my "Comment" in AJP, now
scheduled for next month).
His infinite series example implicitly involves the logic of
induction (true for n=1, assume true for n -> true for n+1). I found
this to be an almost impossible concept to to teach to first year college
calculus students. I don't know why. To me the process seems almost
mechanical. So that's the flaw in Don's presentation to us; to him it
seems obvious, but what does the 6-year old really get?
I'm having a sense of deja vu all over again - going back to the
new math of the 'sixties. That started when some math profs discovered
that they could teach youngsters to sound knowledgeable in set theory. So
they persuaded the elementary math teachers to start using the language of
set theory - the reverse of Arons' concept first, name afterwards. The
curse is still with us, the elementary school textbooks still require the
teachers to talk about "solution sets" instead of "answers" for problems.
And my local elementary school district insists on emphasising math
vocabulary as an important feature of math education, although those of us
who live and work with the the stuff are happy enough to speak of "solving
that mother" in lieu of "seeking solution seets".
Regards,
Jack


7On Sun, 12 Oct 2003, Bernard Cleyet wrote:



Check out the little book; "Calculus By and For Young People" Don
Cohen [ISBN #0-9621674-1-X]

for example:

http://www.shout.net/~mathman/ <http://www.shout.net/%7Emathman/>


I supply the info., you decide.

bc