You know of E. D. Hirsch�s espousal of developmentally *inappropriate* teaching? Hirsch argues that instead of spoon-feeding them each tiny next logical step, kids deserve to hear about the stuff that is actually interesting. Black holes and supernovae are more interesting than pulleys and levers (we�ve read and talked about all of those) and infinity is more interesting than dividing fractions (we�ve worked more seriously on fractions, but we have discussed infinity).
I wholeheartedly agree with this! This is what I try to do in the weekly mathlabs I do in my kids' classes at school. It really gets them fired up about math. I have a bunch of first and third graders following me around the playground, begging me to come do a mathlab
Here's an analogy I like to use when I'm selling my ideas to the teacher: Yes, kids need to learn arithmetic but just teaching them arithmetic without showing them anything else would be like only teaching kids spelling and never reading them a story.
Cathy
