Textbooks, Testing, Training: How We Discourage Thinking 笔记

基本图书信息在这里

  • P2

Politicians and others have placed great emphasis on standardized test scores for evaluating and improving schools, largely, I suppose, because they seem to be a cheap and “objective” way to improve education. They also provide large profits to publishers of standardized tests. I believe that such tests do more harm than good and should be forbidden in our schools. They are designed to reward students who “think” the same way the test-maker thinks.

作者的重点批判在当下中国非常适用。很多老师甚至主动强调这一点,这还算是教育吗?之所以应试教育饱受批评,就是这些试题太垃圾了。

  • P3

there was no use for the arithmetic if you couldn’t use it to solve real problems.

现在的几乎所有的应用题,都是虚假的,在我看来,这比完全抛弃应用题还叫人难受。另外值得一提的是,中学课本里每个章节前都有个“引子”,这些引子也假的很。

  • P5

I think of mathematics as a way to avoid work, or a way to achieve something that could not be achieved without themathematics and therefore something beautiful, useful, and worth learning. School textbooks seem designed to show children that mathematics is a way to make work where none is necessary, thus discouraging them from enjoying or studying mathematics. Apparently, we must also discourage them from thinking or avoiding unnecessary work.

这点和前面的“虚假”的应用题一脉相承。我们缺少“真正”的问题,真正需要数学来解决的问题。如果问题本身就没意思,那谁还愿意去学那些解决之道呢?这同时,还黑了一把数学家,他们居然那么无聊,发明那一大堆乱七八糟的没用东西。

  • P7
    作者建议找一些数学游戏(比如Nim游戏)来刺激学生做运算。游戏有趣味性,所以即使其中需要做运算,孩子也不反感,而且可能根本没意识到老师在训练他们的运算能力。

  • P7

To me, one of the important goals of teaching mathematics should be to get students to discuss problems with friends and families.

  • P26

Perhaps the most glaring proof that American schools are not doing a sufficiently good job of educating students is the number of prominent people who seem unable to distinguish between cause and effect in education. A high score on a particular multiple-choice test does not imply the individual has a good education or is particularly smart.

从这点来看,中国教育也是失败的。另外,又黑了一把选择题。有选择题的试卷都很差劲。

  • P35

I reread many of the arguments attributed to Socrates by Plato and others and decided that he had been behaving more like a lawyer than a teacher and that I had done the same thing with the little girl.

这个观点蛮新颖的。哪天找时间自己读一读。

  • P37

Well, I have taught all grades from first through twelfth as well as college and graduate courses in mathematics and education and what I have found is that if I start by trying to discuss or solve the students’ social problems they think of me as a bad joke. But, if I start by trying to help them learn some substantial and useful content, and demonstrate in the process that I actually know something and respect them enough to share, they will respect me and often come to me for help with nonacademic matters.

作者的这个经历蛮有意思的。之前看到一些书上说,先和学生做(生活上的)朋友,这有助于专业教学。作者的经历却相反。教育真是需要“对症下药”啊,难难难!

  • P45
    作者引用了庄子的一句话:Rewards and punishments are the lowest form of education.

不知道对应的中文是啥。

原文地址:https://www.cnblogs.com/apprenticeship/p/5538915.html