Erin Kilroy
Wonderments Mayer ch. 13-14
1. I recently taught a math unit on fractions during which the students all received
manipulatives. The students were using triangles and rhombuses to make a whole
hexagon. This method is a lot like the method of using fractions shown in Mayer p. 430.
The students had a difficult time with this method. I wonder if this is because this is not
the usual method of learning math in school?
2. We teach with Everyday Mathematics, which uses a spiral method and does not expect
students to master all skills in a unit. I wonder if this is based on the Zone of Proximal
Development theory. The students are being taught ahead of their developmental zone.
3. On page 434, Mayer discusses children from Indian nations being sent to school and
when they returned home, their families thought they were good for nothing. In our
nation now this seems to not be as big of an issue because of the way we live. I recently
saw that Oprah opened a school for girls in South Africa. I think education can be an
excellent way to freedom, but I wonder if these girls may sense some of this when they
return home, that they can no longer carry the water for miles on their heads.
4. “Children who are ‘capable of solving a computational problem in the natural
situation’ often ‘fail to solve the same problem when it is taken out of context.’” (Mayer
436) Many math curriculums try to include real world problems, but until the students
need to solve these for a relevant purpose, it will continue to mean nothing to them.
While teaching perimeter and area, our curriculum kept discussing creating a garden, but
the students do not get a real life view until they actually create a garden.
5. So many careers used to be taught using an apprenticeship. I wonder why we tend to
only use this method when we are close to beginning our professional careers? It seems
it would be most effective to apprentice students in all subjects from a young age.
6. I wonder if Service Lea