Calculus seems a lot like learning to knit at points. Technically what we're doing right now isn't calculus but its in the book and part of the Calc 3 curriculum, its like scalar stuff in 3 dimensions so its mostly trig, but there are all these patterns either here or in regular Calculus where its like, "okay, so the cross product of a,b,c and d,e,f is bf-ce,cd-af,ae-bd so its like 2nd*3rd-3rd*2nd,3rd*1st-1st*3rd,1st*2nd-2nd*1st where there's this odd, I dunno, knitting feeling to it
...like learning to tie knots. "Over, inner, outer... uh, the bunny goes in the hole..." etc
This feeling is part of what convinces me that what I'm learning could be taught to someone much younger than I am, if it weren't being taught with this textbook. Or maybe even with this textbook with the right kid or the right teacher.
I was just thinking about you, and math, this morning, as I read the description of a math course in the Teaching Company's newest catalog. And I think you're right about teaching to much younger students-- there are ways the material can be taught that don't make it seem dense and obscure-- kids would like. I remember Sam's happiness in discovering the Trachtenberg System of Basic Mathematics, many years ago ... but he can tell you about that! rfh
ReplyDelete