Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
What math teachers should know about memory
Posted by: Gary Ernest Davis on: April 11, 2011
How often do mathematics teachers say about students: “If only they would memorize the information”? In my experience, a lot, and with considerable anguish. What this concern shows, in my experience, is a lack of understanding of human memory systems – an aspect of brain functioning that is critical to education. Rote memorization This is […]
Avoiding the low road in learning mathematics
Posted by: Gary Ernest Davis on: April 9, 2011
I wrote recently about cognitive theft in mathematics, an act that teachers – including parents – often carry out that short circuits a student’s possibility of working through a problem themselves. x There’s another side to cognitive theft – an act of omission – in which students themselves often engage. Students often take away their […]
