Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment An Update from MyHeartBrks

Sorry forgot to say that it's just slides, still worth reading though. I wish we had been able to attend the talk.

Dottie, is this the video you are looking for? http://mathprize.atfoundation.org/archive/2009/rusczyk

The quote you posted rang a bell and I think that it was from the lecture I linked. I heard someone say recently that the way math is being taught in school is how to answer questions not question answers. That may be more cutesy than totally accurate in that problem solving isn't solely questioning answers, but I do agree that math instruction would benefit from some tweaking.

I've posed to dds that the formulas, etc. that they are learning are tools in a toolbox. Their job is to have the problem solving skills to be able to look at a word problem, for instance, and be able to figure out which of the tools they have can be used to solve that problem. You can have all the tools in the world, but if you don't know when and where to use them, they aren't a lot of good.

I'll add to your icons.

I remember this quote. It's beyond shocking. Is it so hard to figure out that the society really needs people who are highly educated in math and science?

Luckily US can afford to "import" people from other countries where the the importance was placed on acquiring problem solving skills. PhD programs in math and science show that quite clearly.

I only know that the minute I introduce a formula or a "shortcut", the thinking goes out the window. So for things like area formulae for example, we go through a lot of the basics so that DS sees how they're derived. Plus he's a visualizer and needs to "see" it in his brain. It works wonders at the algebra level because of the deconstruction required.

To MyHeartBrks,
Can't help about EPGY but am so glad to hear that things are working well and your son has his zing back!