Veronica’s teaching adventures

So what were we learning about again?1

It’s articles like “Building Software Beats Using it” (2003) that makes me wonder if I’m missing something about putting children in front of a computer and building a program.

One thing I agree with, though, is that you can’t just put children to do tasks that are just “yes” or “no” or “true” and “false.” It’s so easy for a child that’s struggling to just make a guess, because hey… 50% chance of getting it correct. It’s really hard to check if they are really understanding it all. Children need an active role in learning, whether it’s discussing or creating.

But to be brutally honest, I don’t feel like time would be well-spent trying to teach children to build intricate programs on the computer just for the sake of learning fractions. They’re trying to learn mathematics, not how to do CSS code or complex bells and whistles like that. I guess I just feel extremities are never good. You wouldn’t want to be a teacher that just teaches by the textbook, nor a teacher that spends an hour setting up and training the children to do something that will technically be “irrelevant” to what they’re trying to learn in the end.

Funny how the part that I found most meaningful about the article was the section where children were discussing and talking about their problems with fractions, brainstorming and making mind maps. I feel that’s wonderful exploration. Sometimes “simplicity” just works!

Posted under: Education, Gadgets, Games