Inquiry C
After listening to Conrad Wolfram talk about Teaching kids real math with computers, I have been somewhat confused. I agreed with a lot of what I heard and a lot perplexed me!
I agree that Math is more than computation. And so we can leave the menial job of calculations to technology as we focus on more crucial issues.
Conrad gives the analogy that we can drive a car without understanding the details of how its engine works. But then is it a fair comparison? I rather compare it to cooking where I add ingredients knowing what effect each bring to my recipe. Not understanding the role of each ingredient may mess up my cooking.
In math we need to know what goes into solving the problem [ and yes I agree that we make these problems more relevant and real]
Conrad says that if procedures are important let the students program them. I wholeheartedly agree.But the question is- don’t they need to understand the basics so they can create programs for them?
May be one day it will make sense…….