>This is not to say that the way that we currently teach things like
>trigometry and calculus is optimal. Having students do endless drill work
>on de-contextualized problems and memorizing formulas only to forget them
>immediately after testing seems pretty useless. Maybe if we engaged
>students in things like designing roof trusses in school, they would have
>an easier time seeing learning trig as an empowering skill. ---Tim
As a practical educator in an Ontario (Canada) high school, I see only two
ways to bridge the solitudes. Either we teach kids to adapt these
mathematical tools (including other knowledge forms) to different activity
systems, an approach which used to be known in connection with
"metacognitive awareness" (my preferred approach). Or else we create
different "categories" of discipline instruction which at least approximate
these different external activity systems.
In Ontario, our radically right-wing government seems to have opted for
this latter course of action, although not likely for reasons which are
based on good educational practice, or predicated on the practicalities of
available resources. As a result, we are contemplating three kinds of
"streaming" in the high school system: (1) the "academic" stream for the
university bound, (2) the "applied" stream for those bound for technical
training in community colleges, and (3) the "applied" stream for those
going directly into the "work force".
It remains to be seen whether this multiple stream approach will actually
provide an easier bridge between high school and other activity systems, or
even be doable. I admit I am sceptical, since it will still be missing the
element of metacognitive awareness, but Tim and Graham, and even Jay, might
find the concept behind this attempt interesting.
Comments gentlemen?
Glenn D. Humphreys
glenhump who-is-at soonet.ca
P.O. Box 11,
Echo Bay, Ontario,
Canada, P0S 1C0
Home: (705) 248-1226
Office: (705 942-7423
Fax:=A0 (705) 248-1226 (Prearrange please)