41–50 of 65 posts
Faster calculators incoming?
I have a student who uses a TI-84. She's a high schooler taking university courses. Hers has a backlight and a USB-rechargeable battery, but it's basically the same machine otherwise. The downstream costs of how we do standardized tests are bonkers .
Covets my vintage HP 48GX.
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I have a student who uses a TI-84. She's a high schooler taking university courses. Hers has a backlight and a USB-rechargeable battery, but it's basically the same machine otherwise. The downstream costs of how we do standardized tests are bonkers .
We're probably better off doing away with calculators for standardized tests. There's a nice profit margin on those calculators, but there's also a floor price for electronics at play because at some point, making outdated chips, LCDs, PCBs, etc. doesn't actually get cheaper. So graphing calculators will always cost $30-$100. While they're wildly outdated, it doesn't make sense to arm kids going into standardized tes…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We're probably better off doing away with calculators for standardized tests. There's a nice profit margin on those calculators, but there's also a floor price for electronics at play because at some point, making outdated chips, LCDs, PCBs, etc. doesn't actually get cheaper. So graphing calculators will always cost $30-$100. While they're wildly outdated, it doesn't make sense to arm kids going into standardized tes…
In my freshman E&M physics course, there was no calculus prerequisite, so when we had to answer a question on a quiz or test that would be solved with an integral, the professor said we could just put the integral without needing to evaluate it and he'd mark it as correct. I think this approach makes a lot of sense; understanding the concept of "summing" the value of an expression across a range by using an integral…
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I think in Asia though it's expected of highschool students to evaluate the integral without a calculator. Education in the US should at least match what they do in Asia to stay competitive.
There is a lot of rote in Asia, and an over emphasis on classic geometric proofs that have little relevance in today’s world. Yes, we should try as hard as Asia in math, but blindly copying Indian or Chinese education practices isn’t the right way forward.
With geometry, the style I was taught emphasized explanation of complex problems using proofs but building from first principles.
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There is a lot of rote in Asia, and an over emphasis on classic geometric proofs that have little relevance in today’s world. Yes, we should try as hard as Asia in math, but blindly copying Indian or Chinese education practices isn’t the right way forward.
Well, with the current state of mathematics in the US education system... blindly following Asia is a step up. I do agree with you that in theory we can do better than asia, but that is too high of a milestone given that we are basically currently significantly worse than Asia on all fronts.
Adopting elements of the Finnish model would probably be an improvement.
UT needs a wider incubation, financing, and entrepreneurial (undergrad/grad-student/community) ecosystem like Stanford. Critical mass of players brings with it more interested parties, and with it, that elusive "innovation". It should be okay to make money, okay to turn a PhD thesis into a startup, okay to launch side projects, and cool to fail and learn lessons. Not all paths must lead to a "corporate career".
Disclaimer: Austinite here unrelated to UT. UT needs a wider incubation, financing, and entrepreneurial (undergrad/grad-student/community) ecosystem like Stanford. Critical mass of players brings with it more interested parties, and with it, that elusive "innovation". It should be okay to make money, okay to turn a PhD thesis into a startup, okay to launch side projects, and cool to fail and learn lessons. Not all pa…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a lot of rote in Asia, and an over emphasis on classic geometric proofs that have little relevance in today’s world. Yes, we should try as hard as Asia in math, but blindly copying Indian or Chinese education practices isn’t the right way forward.
The goal of learning should be mastery, not memorization of specific cases. With geometry, the style I was taught emphasized explanation of complex problems using proofs but building from first principles.
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I can assure you that the Chinese strategists are. Wang Huning is way to smart not to have and he's just one that's somehow famous enough to be known in the West. I'm sure there are many more strategists of if not equal at least similar caliber working on furthering China's (hopefully) peaceful rise.
It's too chaotic. There are many who want peace but there are many who want war and there are many who will flip their opinion and this is on both sides of the line, the US and China. Anything can occur.
Like all the experts in the world can concur that China is better off with peace in the Pacific, but if Xi wants a war, he's getting a war.
Disclaimer: Austinite here unrelated to UT. UT needs a wider incubation, financing, and entrepreneurial (undergrad/grad-student/community) ecosystem like Stanford. Critical mass of players brings with it more interested parties, and with it, that elusive "innovation". It should be okay to make money, okay to turn a PhD thesis into a startup, okay to launch side projects, and cool to fail and learn lessons. Not all pa…
Is this your diagnosis? That things are more corporate in terms of outcome? Genuinely curious, as a Bay Area native, why UT/Texas can’t begin to compete given how many issues face SF currently.