Parents: Help your child or teen

Online Volumes (Book Orders)
1,  Elements of Reason. 1996
1A. Pattern Based Reason  1995
1B. Math Curriculum Notes 1996
2. Three Skills for Algebra  1995
3.
_Why_Slopes_&_More_Math_1995

More Site Areas 
1.  Solving Linear Equations  2005
2.-Fractions-Rates-Proportns-Units-2006
3.  Algebra, Odds & Ends, HS level-2001
4.-Euclidean-Geometry/Complex No.s 
5.  Analytic Geometry/Functions 2006
6.  Number Theory. 2006-7
7.  Complex Numbers More 2001
8.  Calculus Introduction 2005
More Site Areas 
9   Real  Analysis 1995
10. Secondary IV? maths 2006-7
11. Math Education Essays  2006-7
12. LaTeX2HotEqn: 2004
13. Electric Circuits Etc  2007
14. Quebec Math Education 2004
15-Prequel-to-the-How-TOs-06-2008
How TOs/ Ref.-08- 2008
1. Arithmetic Reference
2. Algebra 
3. More Algebra 
4. Geometry  
5. More Geometry
6. Calculus
7. Logics in Maths

Employ an online or offline tutor at your own risk from 

AU:  tutorfinder.com.au
CDN :  findatutor.ca 
CDN: .i-tutor.ca
CDN: Montreal Tutors
NZ:   findatutor.co.nz
UK:   tutorhunt.com 
UK:  tutors4me.co.uk
USA:  wiziq.com
USA: ziizoo.com

or employ the site author - View his WiZiQ profile  - Calculus students are very welcome.


YOU are better than YOU think. Show yourself  how:

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 For better work & study skills, read logic chapters 1 to 5  in  Three Skills for Algebra. Sooner is better. Good luck.

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 Logic Mastery
 Amazing, Amusing, Amorous,  Delicious, Delightful, Edifying, Strengthening Elixir. 
It eases work & learning difficulties Makes the hard easier. Opens eyes. Leads to greater precision.
in reading and writing

Do not leave here without it -  Logic mastery  will develops critical thinking, improve reading and writing, and give a firmer base for work and studies at many levels. Good luck.

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Caution: Site advice is approximately correct, for some circumstances, not all. Site How-TOs are logically developed, but not tried and tested. That leaves room for thought and refinement..

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After logic  (a) continue reading Three Skills for Algebra, chapters 8 to 14  and do so alongside site area on solving linear2007 Equations ; or (b) see this calculus starter lesson and Volume 3, Why Slopes  & More Math, chapters 2 to 6;


For online automated help in senior high school maths & calculus, visit  quickmath.com  For Automatic Calculus and Algebra Help with derivatives, integrals, graphs, linear equations, matrix algebra, visit calc101.com  With  overlap, each site quickmath & calc101offers a different range of services, some free, some not, all based on webmathematica. Good luck.


Explore collaborative whiteboards from groupboardtwiddla  or scriblink.



Chapter 3
Algebraic Thought

Previous: Chapter 2, For & Against Math

The Barrier

In the absence of other data, one resorts to personal experience – the small sample of one – and then hopes that the experience is objective or representative. As a high school student, I mastered the algebraic way of writing and thinking, but many of my fellow students and some of my science teachers had not. I was frustrated in some courses by the slow pace. I attributed this slow pace to the difficulty others had with algebra. Moreover the algebraic way of writing and thinking was required to understand courses in algebra, physic and chemistry, but it was never directly explained.

As a college student in the 1970s, I tried to help a high school student. When I tried to explain or demonstrate the algebraic way of writing and thinking, she would say give me numbers, not letters. The algebraic way of writing and reasoning was a powerful engine, but I lacked words to describe it, and the descriptions in math texts seemed too brief. The student later said that the algebraic way of writing and thinking, or what I was trying to say, only became clear when she took calculus. [1]

[1] Calculus in the first instance deals with slope-related calculations, their applications and interpretations. Its explanation employs and illustrates the symbolic or algebraic way of writing and thinking at full strength.

Through my studies of mathematics in high school and college I was aware of this difficulty of explaining algebraic thought, but could not then conceive of how to resolve it. After becoming a full-time instructor in 1983, I thought of a simple remedy.

Postscript (2005).  The algebraic barrier described above is made more difficult by the lack of emphasis on fraction sense and skills. Too many students and teachers at the limit of their knowledge believe calculator usage removes the need to master fraction sense and fraction skills.  But the latter fraction sense and skills are prerequisites to the algebraic way of writing and reasoning. The  introduction to algebra in Solving Linear Equations With Stick Diagrams visually develops or re-enforces fraction sense and skills. Try it with students 10 plus in your care. 


Chapter sections: [What is Algebraic Thought] 3 Three Skills For Algebra ] 3 Words  and Concepts Before Symbols: Variables ] 3. What is Algebra? ]

Next: Skills For Algebra - Defining the or an Algebraic Way of Writing and Reasoning

 

www.whyslopes.com
Volume 1B, Mathematics Curriculum Notes,

 Foreword + Chapters 1 to 10 + 12

Area Map
Inductive Principles
1 Introduction
2 For & Against Math
3 Algebraic Thought
4 Why Slopes & SQRT of -1
5  Books & Articles to Read
6 Unruly Origins of Algebra
6. Axiomatic Civilization
7 Geometry, 2 Ways
8 Modern Instruction
9 The Two Ends
10 The Transition
10 Explaining Logic
10 Explaining Algebra
10 Why Sets in Math.
12 Four Phases
Links

Chapter 11: Primary School Mathematics

11 Primary Math
11 Cue Cards
11 Counting
11 Decimals - Addition
11 Decimals -Times
11 Decimals & Subtraction
11 Fractions and Division
11 Notational Conflict
11 Reciprocals Etc
11 Decimals - Ratios
11 Size Comparison
11 Numbers, +ve or -ve
11 Rename < Sign
11 Complex Numbers

Will provide an alternative to Chapter 11 later, most likely in the Parent's Area: Help Your Child or Teen Learn 

Most students in high school are not heading for calculus, but most topics in high school mathematics are present due to calculus.  Preparation for calculus demands their coverage at  full strength.

See too, this site 55+,  Math Education Essays. Site areas and pages provide pieces of the a Mathematics Education, Jigsaw Puzzle, in formation.

-Inductive principles for course design & delivery  require a clear description of where and how skills and concepts may rest on earlier ones, so that difficulties may be explained and remedied by looking for  what was missed or forgotten in earlier studies. 


Mathematics is a demanding subject. All errors in notation and comprehension need to be identified and corrected. In reading, spelling and writing, students have to learn all the letters in the alphabet, not just some. and memorize spelling. Anything less implies difficulty.

Likewise in mathematics, students have to master key skills and concepts, one at a time and one after another. Anything less implies difficulty.


Modern mathematics curricula introduced an inconsistency into course design and delivery. They did not sanction the use of decimals nor the use of diagrams in skill and concept development but decimal arithmetic and diagrams are needed for student comprehension and for an operational mastery of quantitative skills. That implies the need for an mixed-math curricula based on a systematic development of operational skills, sufficient for applications and sufficient to provide a base & context  for  the very optional study of pure mathematis.


 


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