“in which she insisted teachers shouldn’t take math”
In answer to Martha Koch’s opinion piece, “absolutely,” and I say that as a scientist with 40 years of experience in the biology of behaviour, but the crackpot ideas of self-described “researchers” that have held sway for the last 30 years with respect to influencing educational policy are the least reliable basis for advice to policy makers.
There is nothing less adequate than a self-professed expert saying “research shows” without actually describing the methodology for data acquisition, analytical framework and actual results, which, in the contemporary education context (the last 30 years) are worse literacy and numeracy outcomes precisely because the wrong people with unsupportable ideas that fly in the face of 2,000 years of contemporary, empirical experience in how humans learn have got hold of policy makers’ ears.
The fact is that literacy and numeracy have declined precipitously and disastrously, as many parents will attest. That debacle, to which Koch and her ilk have contributed, will take a long time to correct, and it is children and their futures at stake.
Robert Anderson
RM of Brokenhead
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more.
In her recent article, education professor Martha Koch claims the education courses future teachers take in the faculty of education are more useful than the subject-specific courses they took in their undergraduate degrees.
As someone with 25 years of teaching experience in the public school system, I must respectfully disagree. The subject-specific courses that I took in my undergraduate degree were much more helpful in my teaching career than the useless education courses offered by the faculty of education.
Don’t just take my word for it. Ask any teacher how they felt about their bachelor of education program. Chances are they will praise their teaching practicum where they worked in real classrooms with real students, but they will dismiss most of their required courses as useless theory. It would be a huge mistake to rely on education faculties to fill in the gaps that will inevitably arise from the lower admission standards for future teachers introduced by the current government.
Michael Zwaagstra
Steinbach
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2007 math forum audio video
Discovery Math
Singapore Math
Remedial math
Madison’s most recent Math Task Force
When A Stands for Average: Students at the UW-Madison School of Education Receive Sky-High Grades. How Smart is That?
