Rick Garlikov reports on his (apparently largely successful) experiences teaching a class of third graders binary arithmetic using the Socratic method. I liked his use of a two-fingered alien to get the kids to see the connection between human-oriented, base-10 digits and base-2. The transcript illustrates the complicated nature of this approach to teaching: a lot of expertise on the part of the teacher, both in terms of content and about what students already know (and how they think) is required.
Okay, let's go back to our two-fingered aliens arithmetic. We have
0 zero1 one.What would we do to write "two" if we did the same thing we do over here [tens] to write the next number after you run out of numerals?
[Kids answer:] START ANOTHER COLUMN
(A Metafilter post on Garlikov's report also includes some additional links to the Socratic method, including the helpful Who Was Socrates?)
[via metafilter.com]
Posted by johndanseven at February 6, 2006 02:32 PM