Study Suggests Math Teachers Scrap Balls and Slices

A very interesting article in NYTimes Science section about a research evaluation questioning the commonly held belief that abstract Math is best taught with concrete examples. I quote few excerpts here

"An experiment by the researchers suggests that it might be better to let the apples, oranges and locomotives stay in the real world and, in the classroom, to focus on abstract equations

In the experiment, the college students learned a simple but unfamiliar mathematical system, essentially a set of rules. Some learned the system through purely abstract symbols, and others learned it through concrete examples like combining liquids in measuring cups and tennis balls in a container.

The students who learned the math abstractly did well with figuring out the rules of the game. Those who had learned through examples using measuring cups or tennis balls performed little better than might be expected if they were simply guessing. Students who were presented the abstract symbols after the concrete examples did better than those who learned only through cups or balls, but not as well as those who learned only the abstract symbols."

The source article which appeared in the Journal of Science is available here.

Receipts Uploaded

Have a look at the receipts for the recent donations, uploaded at our Google groups.

Education Push Yields Little for India's Poor

A recent NY Times article on the state of Indian government schools. The samples from which they pull some of their generalizations are not varied enough to represent a complete portfolio, but their conclusions are worth taking a look. I am quoting an excerpt here. You can access the full-length article here.


"Sixty years after independence, with 40 percent of its population under 18, India is now confronting the perils of its failure to educate its citizens, notably the poor. More Indian children are in school than ever before, but the quality of public schools like this one has sunk to spectacularly low levels, as government schools have become reserves of children at the very bottom of India’s social ladder.

The children in this school come from the poorest of families — those who cannot afford to send away their young to private schools elsewhere, as do most Indian families with any means.

India has long had a legacy of weak schooling for its young, even as it has promoted high-quality government-financed universities. But if in the past a largely poor and agrarian nation could afford to leave millions of its people illiterate, that is no longer the case. Not only has the roaring economy run into a shortage of skilled labor, but also the nation’s many new roads, phones and television sets have fueled new ambitions for economic advancement among its people — and new expectations for schools to help them achieve it."

Free-Reading

From Slashdot -
Although open teaching materials have been available at the university level for a while now, there have been very few materials for younger learners. That's beginning to change now with the advent of Free-Reading, a free, wiki-based resource for early literacy instruction. The availability of free materials could free up millions of dollars from school budgets for more teachers and training. From the USA Today article: 'Last fall, a Florida textbook adoption committee approved Free-Reading, a remediation program for primary-school children that's believed to be the first free, open-source reading program for K-12 public schools. It's awaiting approval by Eric Smith, the state's incoming education commissioner, who could approve it by mid-December. Florida is one of the top five textbook markets in the USA, so its move could lead to the development of other free materials that might someday challenge the dominance of a handful of big educational publishers.'

Need your comments on the current education policy

Please visit my blog for details:

http://subash75.blogspot.com/2007/07/gamble-game-with-students-career-at.html

Your comments are welcome.

TANKER

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Current industry analysis and long term plan for OUR Growth

Dear Thuligal,

Currently, we are working in reputed companies, irrespective of our job nature. As per the records, today foreign investments are increasing tremendously. Indian BIG 5's are competing with the Global market and tremendous growth has been achived. Foreseeing the Industry growth, it looks good for the next 10 years....

Please share your comments with your current visualization of the Industry, is it on the right track, is there any better approach, issue in the long term plan and so, with respect to the current growth/drawback of the Indian Industry.

Note: Don't get confused with the topic. Will take you to the next level of discussion based on the results. ;-)