[ExI] algebra

[Giovanni Santostasi]

I taught Physics in college for 7 years.
I was also educated in Italy up to college level education (I got my PhD in
the US).
I was astonished to see how many people do not know algebra when they
enroll in college Physics. In Italy, you mastered the concept at this point
and algebra should be trivial. It was not for my engineering and pre-med
students (the majority of them).
I discovered that one of the reasons is that Algebra is taught in a
unfamiliar (to me as an European educated person) and cumbersome way.
For example, when a variable is moved from one side of the equation to
another in the US they teach to multiply both sides by that variable. Of
course this is correct theoretically and not to difficult to execute for
mathematically inclined people, but even I that love math, I found it more
complicated that simply what they taught us in Italy, when you go from one
side to the other of the equal sign "flip" when you move it to the other
side what you want to move if sometime is a product (if it is a 2 it
becomes 1/2 for example) and change sign if it is a sum (-3 becomes + 3
when moved from one side to the other of the equation). I think this is
similar to what is explained in Bill's email.
You do have to use intuitive method when teaching math to young people
because it is not a natural concept.
It is something that our minds need to be trained to.
Giovanni




On Wed, Nov 11, 2020 at 11:26 AM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> Can anyone figure out what this guy is saying?    bill w
>
> my daughter.
>
> She was excluded from school, long story, and having home tutoring. Said
> tutor was trying to teach my daughter all about algebra. For 7 months, I
> watched the tutor struggle to make sense enough for my daughter to grasp
> the concept.
>
> I got a bit worried when the tutor started yelling at my daughter. So, I
> asked if I could try. She let me have a go, as she smugly stepped aside and
> said that if she couldn't, with her specialist knowledge, I sure as hell
> couldn't do any better, but as time was wasting, go ahead.
>
> *First thing I said to my daughter was…. Do the sum backwards. If it shows
> plus, you minus, and if it shows division, you multiply. So, start with
> what you know, and work backwards.*
>
> Daughter got it in an instant!! Tutor tests her with more complex
> equations, daughter got it right! Tutor spen over an hour testing her, and
> finally had to agree that my rather daft method, although it went against
> all her teaching, actually worked!!
>
> Tutor asked me how I knew this. Just told her that that is how I do it?
> She asked if she could use it to teach others. I said of course she could,
> I don't own the method!!
>
> We later had a chat and I said that because 7 of my 8 kids had
> disabilities and additional needs, I had had to be creative about how each
> child learned. And that if they aren't learning, I'm not teaching them
> right. She thanked me and actually became a much nicer tutor after that. I
> guess I opened her eyes a little.
>
> There are no bad students, only bad teachers!!
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