General > General Technical Chat
An observation on homework problems
schmitt trigger:
--- Quote from: rhb on March 02, 2019, 01:50:51 am ---
It's just like building muscle. No exercise, no muscle.
--- End quote ---
Or as physical trainers like to say: No pain, No gain.
free_electron:
my favorite gripe. PROVE THAT (A+B)^2 IS A^2 + B^2 + 2AB
WHY ? This was proven thousands of years ago by some dude with a grey beard and a toga . It possible was also proven earlier by some dude from a place in the indus valley ( today's india) . All these years we have had millions of students posting the same proof.
Ar you as a math teacher still unsure about it that you need to ask your students to prove it once again ? IF you are so desperate why don't you prove it ?
That is not learning. That is solving crossword puzzles and sudoku's.
Of course you need to know that formula. And it is nice to prove it while you are explaining it. But mindnumbingly asking the student to repeat that is parrot work. That equation can be looked up in a second. Teach them the applications !
Exams should be done by giving the student a book with all formulas. There is no reason to memorise all that stuff. There are students with bad memory skills that have excellent reasoning skills. They fail cause they can remember if it was Bob or Pete that came up with something. That is just plain wrong. Reasoning skill is waaaaay more important that being able to recant the coursebook letter for letter.
Feynman called that Cargocult Science. Go through the motions and you get the paper. But you are still the worlds biggest Moron.
tggzzz:
--- Quote from: free_electron on August 13, 2020, 03:25:04 pm ---my favorite gripe. PROVE THAT (A+B)^2 IS A^2 + B^2 + 2AB
WHY ? This was proven thousands of years ago by some dude with a grey beard and a toga . It possible was also proven earlier by some dude from a place in the indus valley ( today's india) . All these years we have had millions of students posting the same proof.
Ar you as a math teacher still unsure about it that you need to ask your students to prove it once again ? IF you are so desperate why don't you prove it ?
--- End quote ---
You really should read (or re-read) Asmov's "Profession" - he addresses that point and others. The key points are just as valid as when it was written. https://www.abelard.org/asimov.php and try to ignore the geocities colour scheme
--- Quote ---Of course you need to know that formula. And it is nice to prove it while you are explaining it. But mindnumbingly asking the student to repeat that is parrot work. That equation can be looked up in a second. Teach them the applications !
Exams should be done by giving the student a book with all formulas. There is no reason to memorise all that stuff. There are students with bad memory skills that have excellent reasoning skills. They fail cause they can remember if it was Bob or Pete that came up with something. That is just plain wrong. Reasoning skill is waaaaay more important that being able to recant the coursebook letter for letter.
Feynman called that Cargocult Science. Go through the motions and you get the paper. But you are still the worlds biggest Moron.
--- End quote ---
Agreed.
coppice:
--- Quote from: free_electron on August 13, 2020, 03:25:04 pm ---my favorite gripe. PROVE THAT (A+B)^2 IS A^2 + B^2 + 2AB
WHY ? This was proven thousands of years ago by some dude with a grey beard and a toga . It possible was also proven earlier by some dude from a place in the indus valley ( today's india) . All these years we have had millions of students posting the same proof.
Ar you as a math teacher still unsure about it that you need to ask your students to prove it once again ? IF you are so desperate why don't you prove it ?
That is not learning. That is solving crossword puzzles and sudoku's.
Of course you need to know that formula. And it is nice to prove it while you are explaining it. But mindnumbingly asking the student to repeat that is parrot work. That equation can be looked up in a second. Teach them the applications !
Exams should be done by giving the student a book with all formulas. There is no reason to memorise all that stuff. There are students with bad memory skills that have excellent reasoning skills. They fail cause they can remember if it was Bob or Pete that came up with something. That is just plain wrong. Reasoning skill is waaaaay more important that being able to recant the coursebook letter for letter.
Feynman called that Cargocult Science. Go through the motions and you get the paper. But you are still the worlds biggest Moron.
--- End quote ---
A lot of this is a scam that lets low ability people get high marks in exams, by being drilled for hours in expensive private tuition, to turn a thinking task into a simple memory one. When these formulae are derived in class, and you work through where they come from, they are a genuine learning exercise. Reducing them to a memory exercise is a perversion of learning.
paulca:
Tell me and I will forget.
Show me and I will remember.
Let me do it and I will understand.
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