a while back we discussed substituting numbers in a math problem to make them easier to do in your head, then depending on weather you substituted up or down, finding a "reasonable" answer to the problem.
al designed to help kids zip through multiple guess questions on the F-Cat test.
well, we have moved on from finding the fast "reasonable" answer to the next step, under estimating and over estimating with division.
the concept? pretty much the same with substitution. for instance, you have a problem, say, 78 divided by 8. you substitute 78 for 80, then come up with the super fast answer, 10, then say weather your answer was underestimated or overestimated so you can tell weather the correct answer would be higher or lower then your "reasonable" answer.
so, what are we teaching our kids? well, when you buy a car, for instance, you will be able to tell weather you got a "reasonable" amount of change back. or if your in chemistry class, and you want to make water, you will be able to tell the teacher weahter the "3" hydrogen atoms you added to your oxygen atom was "overestimated" or "underestimated".
but you can damn well bet they will be able to complete any standardized multiple guess math test in the time alloted.
this isnt math, it is politics.
welcome to the moral majority, dumbing down america to increase our stats on standardized tests.
well, i have pretty much decided to hire a tutor for my daughter for math and tell her to do the best she can in class but what the tutor teaches her is more important than her math grade in school.
its a terrible thing to do that to a child at such an impressionable age. underminnign her respect for authority figures and sending her down a path that what adults tell her doesnt really matter. but i personally feel that is better than letting her get to high school with **** POOR math skills.
her homework? i told her to solve the problems for the CORRECT answer and write CORRECT estimate in place of overestimated or underestimated.
she will get an F of coarse, as that is not what the teacher wants her to do. but the institution isheading down a dark path, and i feel it is my responsibility to arm her with as much knoledge as possible soshe can make better decisions for herself in the future.
and i prey that when this pack of Idiots leaves the whitehouse in two years, the next addministraition scraps FCAT and lets teachers get back to teaching math as a SCIENCE and not an ART.
Edited, Thu May 11 14:21:01 2006 by shadowrelm