(01-23-2015, 06:56 PM)Coatleque Wrote: But this is still a math class.
In my day, what you wanted was the "Philosophy and Critical Thinking" course.
I'm going to take angry exception with that.
(Which is a cue for someone to pop in and complain that the topic is boring, but what the hell)
Math is all about solving problems. It's all about thinking about things in a way that we're not used to thinking about. Arithmetic, algebra, calculus, and all that? Those are the tools. The grammar. The vocabulary. They're the tools that you can carry in your toolbox to help you think about all this crazy stuff.
When we teach kids to read, we start with stories. We don't make them memorize vocabulary and diagram sentences for a decade before they see a story.
When we teach kids art, we start with painting pictures. Formal techniques come later, if at all.
Music theory can help us understand why a song is the way that it is, but when we teach kids music we always start with songs.
Why, then, do we think that math has to start and end with rote techniques?
