I feel that his argument is valid today because teacher-student interaction is crucial to students' education. Although programs and individual work can be very helpful and sometimes even necessary, there must be a balance. If teachers actually work with the students they will be able to notice when students are having difficulties grasping certain concepts. Without this relationship, more and more students will end up like Benny, having false rules and meanings of mathematics coded in their heads.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Blog Entry #3
One of the main points Erlwanger was trying to get across in his paper, "Benny's Conception of Rules and Answers in IPI Mathematics," was the necessity of teacher-student relationships. He wrote about the experience he had interviewing Benny, a sixth grader, who had serious issues in understanding the concepts of decimals and fractions. For several years his misconceptions went unnoticed because of the faulty IPI system which forced kids to learn independently with minimal teacher interaction. By learning everything on these particular computer programs, he was taught to focus on the answers rather than the mathematical processes and concepts. With no teacher to tell him what the meaning and reasons were behind the rules and patterns, he was forced to come up with his own.
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I agree that a teacher-student relationship is necessary for students to really grasp and understand correct mathematics concepts. I like how you said that when this relationship is absent not only will they not learn and understand a concept, but they will learn incorrect rules and meanings of mathematics. How do you think the teachers will actually help the students? How much time should the teacher spend with the student and how much time should the student spend trying by themselves?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that a relationship between the teacher and the student is extremely important. The teacher's greatest responsibility, I believe, is to make sure the student has a relational understanding of the mathematical concepts being taught. I thought you did a very good job at convincing me that it is important, but I also believe that students need time to work things out on their own. I believe it is a good idea to have a balance of both, to cultivate the best learning that the student can receive.
ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job at connecting the first paragraph to the second. I loved the word 'balance' that you chose to use. I so agree with how you say that individual work can be helpful and necessary. I don't think the point of the main article was to show that a teacher should teach everything, but like you said, involvement is very necessary.
ReplyDeleteI think your argument could possibly be a little stronger if you describe what kind of involvement the teacher would have. If you think that IPI should completely done away with, or if you think it just needs more teacher-student interaction. I'm not completely clear on your opinion after reading this.
..Good Job!
I really like how you justified the importance of teacher-student relationships. When you said "With no teacher to tell him what the meaning and reasons were behind the rules and patterns, he was forced to come up with his own", it was clear exactly why the teacher is so vital. This
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think that teacher involvement is only part of what Erlwanger was trying to promote. Perhaps you could expand to include some of the other main points? Also, I'm not sure where the idea of computer programs was in the paper
You did a nice job identifying a main idea of the article.
ReplyDeleteI would have gone into more detail about what was wrong with Benny's learning experience. Why is coming up with your own rules a bad thing?