Re: [Phys-l] Should equation solving be done with calculators and robots or by

["Josh GATES" <jgates@sbschool.org>]

> >  I'm not sure where the answer lies, but I suspect that the product
> > of what would come out of a curriculum where the "robot" does all the
> math
> > won't be a skilled problem solver, but rather a person who gives up when
> > problems get frustrating.
>
> But when the robot human makes algebra mistakes and gets the wrong answer
> it
> gets upset and gives up.  There are more ways to foul up algebra than
> physics, I think.  (Then again, maybe two infinities are equal...)
Human robots do what they're trained to do; if we insulate them from
frustrating situations, then they'll never be able to deal with them.

> >
>
> I'm quite glad my 1st grade daughter isn't being
> > taught arithmetic on a calculator for example.  I don't think it would
> be a
> > disaster if students weren't allowed to touch calculators until high
> school;
> > and even then only under adult supervision.  :-)
>
> Oh, it'd be a disaster, I think.  I'm sure we both want *meaning* to be
> conveyed to students.  I'm not sure manual labor does this just by virtue
> of
> being 'manual.'
IMHO, part of the transfer of meaning to students, when it comes to math,
comes as a result of reflecting at a later time on skills that are
(initially) taught by rote.  A _big_ problem that my students have are
that they, having been around calculators all their lives, don't have a
lick of intuition about numbers.  This includes: not noticing when they
write something like "3/8 = 2.67," not being able to multiply or divide by
ten without a calculator, not noticing when they write equations that
don't have the right dependencies, etc.  I really think that a good deal
of this is because they haven't (been made to) put in the time to do these
things over and over and over.  There's a reason that they can text
without looking at their phones - they have practiced it!

jg 
> ________________________ 
> Joel Rauber 
> Department of Physics -
> > SDSU 
>
> Joel.Rauber@sdstate.edu 
> 605-688-4293 
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Forum for Physics Educators
> Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
> https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l