Some blog followers be interested in a recent post “Science Educators Also Under Fire By Traditionalist Math Warriors #3” [Hake (2012)]. The abstract reads:
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ABSTRACT: Stacy Brown (2012) of the Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (RUME) list wrote at http://bit.ly/V55OTz (paraphrasing):
"Mathematics educators such as Jo Boaler (2012) http://bit.ly/R6XsuP are not the only academics who have had the misfortune of encountering attacks from Wayne Bishop. Science educators who worked with Cal Tech’s Precollege Science Initiative (CAPSI) project http://bit.ly/T9qRsv have been subjected to treatment from Bishop who called on federal funding agencies to audit several of their science projects in California in the hopes that the grant’s funds would be revoked.”
Further evidence that Traditionalist Math Warriors (TMW’s) such as Bishop, Hansen, and “Haim” are virulently opposed to ALL attempts (not just those in math education) to depart from “direct instruction”. . . . [in the sense used by the “Mathematically Correct Science Corner” http://bit.ly/bfzdZS: “drill and practice,” “non-hands-on,” “teach ’em the facts”; and “non-discovery-learning,” where “discovery learning” means setting students adrift either in aimless play or ostensibly to discover on their own, say, Archimedes’ principle or Newton’s Second Law - see Hake (2008b) at http://bit.ly/bHTebD]. . . . can be had by visiting the OPEN! archives http://bit.ly/eOTrs1 of Math-Teach, a den of TMW's. See, for example, the posts of:
(a) Bishop: click on “att1.html” near the top of the page at http://bit.ly/RBMyPZ and http://bit.ly/XoaQxx;
(b)"Haim" at http://bit.ly/RBDpHa, http://bit.ly/RTNfBB, and http://bit.ly/QmM5gb; and
(c) Hansen at http://bit.ly/S1Rcpn and http://bit.ly/U4LDJx.
Hansen's response at http://bit.ly/XkAtiO to my post “Re: Casualty of the Math Wars” at http://bit.ly/R1q22j is typical of the pathologic excess of TMW rhetoric. Hansen wrote: “I am quite content to keep [education researchers] in check by pointing out their lack of honesty and method. These poor bastards are pandering to social elements, not mathematics. . . . . Zealots full of ideology, devoid of fact or logic.. . . . Hakes and Boalers are part of the weather, albeit, the bad part. . . . . These poor bastards have been struggling for 40 years and they will struggle for another 40 years. I suspect that eventually they will move on to something other than mathematics, cause it really isn’t working out for them here. But I don’t suspect they will change their ways.”
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To access the complete 19 kB post please click on http://bit.ly/QuqXqo.
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Links to Articles: http://bit.ly/a6M5y0
Links to Socratic Dialogue Inducing (SDI) Labs: http://bit.ly/9nGd3M
Academia: http://bit.ly/a8ixxm
Blog: http://bit.ly/9yGsXh
GooglePlus: http://bit.ly/KwZ6mE
Twitter: http://bit.ly/juvd52
REFERENCES [URL shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 18 Oct 2012.]
Hake, R.R. 2012. “Science Educators Also Under Fire By Traditionalist Math Warriorsn #3,” online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/QuqXqo. Post of 18 Oct 2012 07:47:21-0700 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists.
Showing posts with label drill and practice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drill and practice. Show all posts
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Sunday, September 2, 2012
The Effective But Forgotten Benezet Method of K-8 Education
Some blog followers might be interested in a recent discussion-list post “The Effective But Forgotten Benezet Method of K-8 Education” [Hake (2012)]. The abstract reads:
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ABSTRACT: In response to my post “Faculty Try Innovative Teaching Methods, But Don't Stick With It” at http://bit.ly/O3fctt, PhysLrnR’s John (Texas) Clement wrote (paraphrased for brevity): “Not sticking with innovative teaching methods is an old story - e.g., the Benezet Method of K-8 education http://bit.ly/926tiM, was yanked because of parental complaints.”
While it's possible that “parental complaints” may have contributed to the ouster in 1938 of Louis Paul Benezet http://bit.ly/ifjAv9 from his superintendency of the Manchester NH Schools, I think the primary reasons that the Benezet Method of K-8 Education is virtually forgotten are:
(a) the failure of the education community to appreciate the significance of the ground-breaking Benezet/Berman experiment of the 1930's http://bit.ly/PUGosU;
(b) the failure of universities and colleges to educate teachers capable of implementing Benezet's Method http://bit.ly/w9M6dc; and
(c) the opposition of those who favor “direct instruction” (i.e., “drill and practice”) in the early grades http://bit.ly/Pup0Nb.
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To access the complete 21 kB post please click on http://bit.ly/SbTiWD.
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Links to Articles: http://bit.ly/a6M5y0
Links to SDI Labs: http://bit.ly/9nGd3M
Academia: http://bit.ly/a8ixxm
Blog: http://bit.ly/9yGsXh
Twitter http://bit.ly/juvd52
GooglePlus: http://bit.ly/KwZ6mE
“. . .I will look primarily at our traditions and practices of early schooling through the age of twelve or so. There is little to come after, whether of joys or miseries, that is not prefigured in these years.”
David Hawkins http://bit.ly/fjHU9b (2001, p. 3)
“Benezet’s experience that sixth graders with no prior instruction could catch up with students with three years of prior instruction deserves attention. If that is so, one can reasonably claim that the school time spent on arithmetic during grades 3, 4, and 5 is wasted.”
- Andrew Gleason http://bit.ly/hKxteu (1986?)
“[Hassler Whitney http://bit.ly/eCiTGy] opposed formal instruction in arithmetic in the early grades, repeatedly citing a little-known study by Louis P. Benezet (1935a, 1935b, 1936), superintendent of schools in Manchester, New Hampshire, who managed to get several schools In his system to abandon all formal instruction in arithmetic prior to seventh grade. After a year's instruction, the students’ arithmetic test scores were at the level of those of comparable students who had undergone regular instruction. Whitney saw the Benezet study as justifying his argument that too many mathematics teachers were focusing on the passing of tests rather than what he called ‘meaningful goals.’ He was particularly disturbed by national reports calling for more mathematics to be taught earlier in school.”
- International Commission on Mathematical Instruction: ICME (2012)
REFERENCES [URL’s shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 02 Sept 2012.
Gleason, A.M. 1986?. “Delay the Teaching of Arithmetic ?” unpublished, online as a 12 kB pdf at http://bit.ly/PPTx8f. The late Andrew Gleason http://bit.ly/hKxteu was Hollis Chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard University.
Hake, R.R. 2012. “The Effective But Forgotten Benezet Method of K-8 Education,” online on the OPEN AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/SbTiWD. Post of 02 Sep 2012 15:28:15-0700 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists.
Hawkins, D. 2001. The Roots of Literacy. University of Colorado Press. Amazon.com information at http://amzn.to/h3cbtf. A perceptive review by Helen and Joseph Featherston is at http://bit.ly/OITjdS.
**********************************************
ABSTRACT: In response to my post “Faculty Try Innovative Teaching Methods, But Don't Stick With It” at http://bit.ly/O3fctt, PhysLrnR’s John (Texas) Clement wrote (paraphrased for brevity): “Not sticking with innovative teaching methods is an old story - e.g., the Benezet Method of K-8 education http://bit.ly/926tiM, was yanked because of parental complaints.”
While it's possible that “parental complaints” may have contributed to the ouster in 1938 of Louis Paul Benezet http://bit.ly/ifjAv9 from his superintendency of the Manchester NH Schools, I think the primary reasons that the Benezet Method of K-8 Education is virtually forgotten are:
(a) the failure of the education community to appreciate the significance of the ground-breaking Benezet/Berman experiment of the 1930's http://bit.ly/PUGosU;
(b) the failure of universities and colleges to educate teachers capable of implementing Benezet's Method http://bit.ly/w9M6dc; and
(c) the opposition of those who favor “direct instruction” (i.e., “drill and practice”) in the early grades http://bit.ly/Pup0Nb.
**********************************************
To access the complete 21 kB post please click on http://bit.ly/SbTiWD.
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Links to Articles: http://bit.ly/a6M5y0
Links to SDI Labs: http://bit.ly/9nGd3M
Academia: http://bit.ly/a8ixxm
Blog: http://bit.ly/9yGsXh
Twitter http://bit.ly/juvd52
GooglePlus: http://bit.ly/KwZ6mE
“. . .I will look primarily at our traditions and practices of early schooling through the age of twelve or so. There is little to come after, whether of joys or miseries, that is not prefigured in these years.”
David Hawkins http://bit.ly/fjHU9b (2001, p. 3)
“Benezet’s experience that sixth graders with no prior instruction could catch up with students with three years of prior instruction deserves attention. If that is so, one can reasonably claim that the school time spent on arithmetic during grades 3, 4, and 5 is wasted.”
- Andrew Gleason http://bit.ly/hKxteu (1986?)
“[Hassler Whitney http://bit.ly/eCiTGy] opposed formal instruction in arithmetic in the early grades, repeatedly citing a little-known study by Louis P. Benezet (1935a, 1935b, 1936), superintendent of schools in Manchester, New Hampshire, who managed to get several schools In his system to abandon all formal instruction in arithmetic prior to seventh grade. After a year's instruction, the students’ arithmetic test scores were at the level of those of comparable students who had undergone regular instruction. Whitney saw the Benezet study as justifying his argument that too many mathematics teachers were focusing on the passing of tests rather than what he called ‘meaningful goals.’ He was particularly disturbed by national reports calling for more mathematics to be taught earlier in school.”
- International Commission on Mathematical Instruction: ICME (2012)
REFERENCES [URL’s shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 02 Sept 2012.
Gleason, A.M. 1986?. “Delay the Teaching of Arithmetic ?” unpublished, online as a 12 kB pdf at http://bit.ly/PPTx8f. The late Andrew Gleason http://bit.ly/hKxteu was Hollis Chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard University.
Hake, R.R. 2012. “The Effective But Forgotten Benezet Method of K-8 Education,” online on the OPEN AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/SbTiWD. Post of 02 Sep 2012 15:28:15-0700 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists.
Hawkins, D. 2001. The Roots of Literacy. University of Colorado Press. Amazon.com information at http://amzn.to/h3cbtf. A perceptive review by Helen and Joseph Featherston is at http://bit.ly/OITjdS.
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