Comments on: What Skills Should Children Learn?

By: Ravi

Ravi — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 18:29:19 +0000

I think they should learn about paradoxes too – real, apparent and fallacious ones.

Paradoxes have the power to intrigue and drive.

Trying to fix the fallacious 2=2=5 type ones are great to make people think.

The apparent paradox of relativist time dilation has made me start to study the maths of special relativity (I love the simplicity of the Lorentz factor).

So getting children to love and explore apparent paradoxes can be helpful.

By: MrHonner

MrHonner — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 21:22:41 +0000

That’s a terrific chart: so much to argue about!

Nice to see a lot of overlap with what we came up with here.

By: Tao Wang

Tao Wang — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 18:11:57 +0000

It was about learning at all stages. The discussion centered on the relationship between the importance of a particular skill to lifelong learning and the difficulty in assessing that skill.

We made a plot: http://mathlaoshi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/skills-and-assessment.jpg

By: MrHonner

MrHonner — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 19:48:52 +0000

Did the question pertain specifically to young children, or was it about learning at all stages?

What were some of the ideas that came out of your discussion?

By: Tao Wang

Tao Wang — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 14:35:02 +0000

I was in a presentation yesterday on grading and assessment where this was one of the questions posed and discussed.

By: MrHonner

MrHonner — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 22:09:25 +0000

Instilling a sense of wonder is undoubtedly good thing, and perhaps fits under “Curiosity”.

I imagine this is best done my modeling such behavior? Are there specific skills a child can learn in order to develop a sense of wonder?

By: Kathy Person

Kathy Person — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 14:53:09 +0000

A sense of fun and magic! Use magic tricks using math and then figure out how they work. Add in a purple feather boa and magic wand.