Conrad Wolfram: Teaching kids real math with computers

http://www.ted.com From rockets to stock markets, math powers many of humanity's most thrilling creations. So why do kids lose interest? Conrad Wolfram says the part of math we teach -- calculation by hand -- isn't just tedious, it's mostly irrelevant to real mathematics and the real world. He presents his radical idea: teaching kids math through computer programming.

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Science & Technology

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• mathematics
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• computer
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• programming

[mattbroderick]

Teach a kid to calculate, and they pass a test. Teach a kid to program, and they can solve problems!

[godthisisannoying]

I almost flunked a course in applied statistics. I had done nothing during the semester, hadnt studied, hadnt attended half the classes. If it wasn't for the fact that they required us to do a coding project applying what we (supposedly) learned on the classroom, I wouldn't have passed. In doing the project I learned in one week an entire semester's worth of classes, it was the most amazing experience of my life. I will never forget it.

[RubyKeywordTracker]

Please keep inspiring the world with your creativity and persistence.

[moomoomag00]

The problem with this is speciousness. Without a clear ability to do step #3, Calculate, we'll just accept whatever value the computer gives us, and our confidence (remember how American kids are ranked #1 in confidence, yet scored 9th in math and science worldwide?) will blind us into thinking we did step 1, 2 and 4 perfectly, and so our calculations couldn't possibly be wrong. Calculating give us the ability to estimate how accurate we are. It's NOT LINEAR, it's a feedback loop.

[aoeu256]

@Powervids123

... and the new processes that people gain from doing problems that they couldn't do before because they were spending a lot of time rewriting their DAMN equations?

[hihatlol]

You need to do some computation. If you've ever done regression analysis in Stata, Sas, etc, you know what it's like to have no idea why standard errors are changing based on what dependent variables you use, what it means when your computer is complaining about multicolinearity, etc. In higher math, I never fully got the concept of a vector space, topological space, metric space, etc until I went through the routine calculation once or twice of checking the axioms. Point valid but 2 strong.

[MelTurpin]

Continuing the below post....Exeter seems to encourage the use of technology in solving the nightly problem sets. Any and all resource usage is fully encouraged. Many of the problems don't have a "correct answer". HOW students present their solutions (in writing and orally) is just as important as whether their answer is correct (if there even IS a "corrrect answer"). The approach they take is called the Harkness Table method, and they certainly produce some extremely talented students.

[MelTurpin]

As somone who has been teaching math for 6 yrs now, thinking abt the pros and cons of various curriclum suggestions, the most impressive approach I have found takes place at Philips Exeter Academy. Google 'em and find their Math Dept. Their ENTIRE curriculum, written by the teacers over the yrs, is ONLINE and free to browse! They learn through exploring nightly questions and word problems that they must discuss and present to the class the next way. Can't describe ths cmmt box. Check it out!

[CasperJasper88]

The only way to see significant changes to the way math is taught is from top-down reform. We need legislate curricula which teachers must follow. Even if I agree with this type of math learning doesn't mean that my colleagues do and by teaching my students this way I'm just setting them up for failure as son as they move onto another teacher. Problem with waiting for top-down reform is that by the time they've done the research to justify it we've already moved onto the next thing. #cantwin

[walter0bz]

Hobby programming on the old 8bit computers gave me a big head start in learning real Maths