Thanks for providing the link to some of H. Wu's
publications. I've been reading some of them with
interest. Some of them I find a bit theoretical and wish
he would use actual numerical examples for his
explanations, ;-), but that's just me. I insert my own
numbers to better my understanding!

I especially liked his paper on
fractions...adding/subtracting fractions with unlike
denominators. For true conceptual understanding I love the
number line example. I plan to use it next year so that my
students can actually see what is happening. I actually am
going to have my students draw and then cut out the number
line, placing the segments next to each other for addition.

Even though what he says about state standardized tests is
true, and some of the questions therein, we still have to
prepare our students to encounter those types of questions,
no matter if they do not lead to conceptual understanding.
I teach in Texas and actually have seen those exact
questions that he listed in his article. (I forget which
article I read that he was talking about these types of
questions)
Until the state test is done away with or changed, we have
no choice but to make sure our students understand those
types of questions and how to answer them, in addition to
teaching for conceptual understanding.
I was hoping he would state some sort of solution to this
problem.

Anyway, thanks for the link, I have enjoyed the readings.

Share This Post | Report This Post

Next Post >>

Posts on this thread, including this one