{"id":66704,"date":"2019-03-29T10:00:51","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T14:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/?p=66704"},"modified":"2019-04-12T15:04:57","modified_gmt":"2019-04-12T19:04:57","slug":"reflections-on-bad-bargain-why-we-still-ask-kids-to-factor-polynomials-and-how-we-fix-it-vander-ark-or-are-our-educational-systems-set-up-like-this-stop-sign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/2019\/03\/29\/reflections-on-bad-bargain-why-we-still-ask-kids-to-factor-polynomials-and-how-we-fix-it-vander-ark-or-are-our-educational-systems-set-up-like-this-stop-sign\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on “Bad bargain: Why we still ask kids to factor polynomials and how we fix it.” [Vander Ark] Or, are our educational systems set up like this stop sign?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bad bargain: Why we still ask kids to factor polynomials and how we fix it<\/strong><\/a> — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark<\/p>\n

Excerpt:<\/em><\/p>\n

OK, we cut a bad deal 20 years ago and it\u2019s time to fix it.<\/p>\n

Kids are still factoring polynomials and that\u2019s just dumb. Requiring every student to pass a course on regurgitated symbol manipulation (Algebra 2) is torturous for many students and why some dropout. It\u2019s an inequitable barrier to college and careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tragedy of high school math,\u201d said\u00a0venture investor and education advocate\u00a0Ted Dintersmith<\/a>\u00a0(who has a Ph.D. in math modeling), \u201cis that less than 20% of adults ever use algebra. No adult in America still does integrals and derivatives by hand \u2013 the calculus that blocks so many from career paths. It remains in the curriculum because it\u2019s easy to test, not important to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Math educator\u00a0Dan Meyer<\/a>\u00a0told the\u00a0We\u2019re Doing It All Wrong Podcast<\/a> that algebra 2 is \u201carcane gibberish\u2026not useful knowledge\u201d…
\n…
\nNow, rather than the plug and crank of symbol manipulation, we should be teaching computational thinking. As mathematician\u00a0Conrad Wolfram<\/a>\u00a0said, we should be teaching math as if computers existed.<\/p>\n

Rather than a separate symbol language, Wolfram argues, math should be taught as computational thinking and integrated across the curriculum. That starts with problem finding\u2013spotting big tough problems worth working on. Next comes understanding the problems and valuables associated\u2013that\u2019s algebraic reasoning. But rather than focusing on computation (including factoring those nasty polynomials), students should be building data sets and using computers to do what they\u2019re good at\u2013calculations.
\n…
\nTo fix the problem, states that require Algebra 2 should swap it out for a course in coding and computational thinking. Colleges and college entrance exams should drop Algebra 2 requirements. They should start by asking young people about their contributions to solving big problems.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From DSC:<\/span>
\nThis posting reminded me that, just the other day, I took the picture below…it’s outside a local mall. The annotated picture below gives you some of my thoughts on this ridiculous<\/em> setup.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Are<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bad bargain: Why we still ask kids to factor polynomials and how we fix it — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark Excerpt: OK, we cut a bad deal 20 years ago and it\u2019s time to fix it. Kids are still factoring polynomials and that\u2019s just dumb. Requiring every student to pass a course on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[113,86,45,324,159,72,343,347,419,46,163,436,480,310,66,89,50,321,367,299,445],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-21st-century","category-change","category-computer-science","category-curriculum","category-dangers-of-the-status-quo","category-daniel-s-christian","category-education","category-education-reform","category-ideas-teaching","category-k-12-related","category-mathematics","category-reinvent","category-society","category-staying-relevant","category-student-related","category-teachers","category-teaching-learning","category-united-states","category-vendors","category-workplace","category-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66704"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66713,"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66704\/revisions\/66713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}