[ExI] relevant skills movement, was: RE: emp again

[Stephen Van Sickle]

On Sat, Apr 28, 2012 at 10:49 AM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:

>
> I have taught my son arithmetic functions, and he knows how to do all of
> them.  But is it worth his valuable time to really master that, when he
> carries a calculator in the form of a cell phone?
>

Short answer, yes.  A few years ago, I was teaching beginning nursing
students.  They were alllowed to use calculators for even the most trivial
functions, and most needed them for even such things as multiplying by 10.
If you led them by hand, they were able to to do basic functions by hand,
but they weren't "fluent".  Because they had not mastered arithmetic, the
calculator was a magic box, literally.  They were totally unable to
recognize errors (such as multiplying when they meant to divide).  They
would write down the most absurd answers, just because that was what the
box told them.

I think it is difficult for those of us who are fluent in at least some
areas of mathematics to realize how much of it is internalized and not
natural.  Learning more advanced mathematics without thoroughly mastering
hand arithmetic because you have a calculator is like trying to learn a
foreign language without learning basic vocabulary, just because you can
have a dictionary.  You might be able to squeak through the test, but you
will never converse freely and will quickly forget what you learned.

I second the suggestion for mental arithmetic.  I think this will give you
the most bang for the buck, and rapidly build mathematical intuition.

--s
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