Teaching kids real math with computers

Tuesday, November 16, 2010 - 04:00 in Mathematics & Economics

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.From rockets to stock markets, many of humanity's most thrilling creations are powered by math. So why do kids lose interest in it? 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.What do you think of Conrad Wolfram's argument? I am unconvinced that compelling kids to write a computer programme "teaches" math ... nor am I convinced that using a computer programme to solve mathematical problems does much of anything except allow a person to get an incorrect answer much faster if the person doesn't understand what they are doing in the first place --...

Read the whole article on The Guardian - Science

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