The main point of Erlwanger's article about IPI mathematics is to get across to the reader some of the inherent weaknesses in the IPI approach to mathematics. IPI mathematics is a scientific approach to teaching which uses assessment, own pace learning, and given rules to teach with very little influence by a teacher. Erlwanger uses the example of a young man names Benny who passed through the IPI program showing good results. Although he was able to make it very far in the IPI program, when assessed personally by Erlwanger, he was found to have a very inaccurate understanding of the material he covered in IPI. The main point that Erlwanger wanted to get across was that since one student was able to do "well" in the program without actually learning the material, a more thorough investigation should be done to determine the usefulness of IPI. Erlwanger's talk with Benny demonstrates that Benny has developed learning habits and views of the math that will slow down his learning progress in the future. He states that teacher should become more involved in the learning process than they are in the IPI approach. Through this investigation, Erlwanger concludes that Benny and other IPI students are taught with too much of an instrumental approach and that they are essentially sent on a "wild goose chase" after mathematical answers.
I think that Erlwanger's argument that teachers are taken out of the picture too much in IPI mathematics is valid and I agree that even today, different approaches to teaching math in a similar mode as IPI, puts teacher involvement to a minimum, which impedes student progress. I talk of teachers who rely too much on workbooks or even textbooks to do the teaching that they are supposed to be doing themselves. I have seen through my personal experience that many students are left behind when this approach is used too much. I really do not have a very good understanding of the concepts of high school geometry due to a teacher who thought that the textbook should do the teaching more than her. Although I received an A grade in the class, I came away with very little real understanding of geometry. Overall, I believe that a balance should be struck between the use of independent type teaching and real teacher involved teaching.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I have had a similar experience as you with geometry in an algebra class in middle school. It has taken me years to make up for that and I still feel like it is a weakness of mine. I really enjoyed your topic sentence, I felt like it was very informative. I too received an A in my Algebra class, I wonder what could be done in the school system from a teacher's perspective to determine what students have a true understanding?
ReplyDeleteI know we are supposed to be commenting on the second paragraph, but I just wanted to mention that I thought your first paragraph gave a wonderful summary that would render actually reading the article unnecessary. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI did feel however, that you did not mention why an absent teacher would cause the particular problems Benny faced, and I feel that doing so would have given more context to and strengthened your argument in the second paragraph.
I agree with what you think the problem in the article is and how it is still a problem today. the problem is minimal teacher involvement.
ReplyDeleteI Feel the paragraph could have been improved by "Present(ing) the evidence that Erlwanger uses to make this point." You used a personal example, but what evidence does Erlwanger use?
You do a really nice job with your topic sentence, short synopsis, and then evidence to support the main point.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading it, I thought the first sentence was a great topic sentence that would cover the entire paragraph. Then, in about the middle of the paragraph, another topic sentence (very similar to the first one) seems to be introduced. I thought you had already been providing evidence for that, so when I read another "middle-topic-sentence" it made me wonder what I had been reading about before the mid topic sentence. If the meat of the paragraph is after your "middle-topic-sentence" then I would try to more concisely summarize the first part.