2 Mar
2013
2 Mar
'13
10:02 a.m.
------------------------------
On Sat, Mar 2, 2013 5:21 AM PST Jason McBrien wrote:
well at least to me it's funny that you bring up long division. I was very good at
math through bout my schooling taught myself how to multiply before it was introduced. But
long division was always weird to me and still is. in recent history I think I forgot how
to do it once or twice. which might sound silly but it's simply reinforces the fact
that you need to reinforce the facts.
From: Seth Morabito <lists at loomcom.com>
C: And you actually don't believe there's any merit in strengthening your
problem solving ability by doing a certain number of rote calculating,
particularly in the young mind?
Rote calculating only marginally improves problem solving abilities. Mainly
it drills into your head the basic mechanics of calculation. I have no
problem with this in early elementary, however, once algebra is introduced
symbolic computation should be priority. I was still doing long division in
high school - what was the point of that? After 10 years I had it pretty
well down (heck I had it down after 5 years) After basic calculation and
algebra are mastered, I don't see *any* reason to compute any A/D/M/S
operation.
As an aside: here's an incredible game that teaches 8-year-olds algebra:
http://dragonboxapp.com/
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