Monday, July 5, 2010
Anybody can learn Geometry
I read the article "Geometry is supposed to be easy" http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1537045 . What I got from it more than anything is that Geometry is all around us and we develop thoughts and ideas about it weather it is taught or not. We see patterns and make connections about how objects belong or don't belong. It really isn't a subject that we need to wait to introduce children to, from an early age they are seeing the differences in the shapes in their toys, it is never too early to start teaching children the names of these objects and telling them how they are the same and how they are different. The more they know the better prepared they will be to understand new concepts. Some Geometry could be introduced into all math so they can see how they relate and have some familiarty with it. Angles are everywhere, on a clock, a ramp, they are used everywhere in sports just being aware of them and how they work can be very useful.
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3 comments:
Your comment reminds me of the Montessori philosophy of teaching, which I am not sure if you or anyone is familiar with. For those of you who have studies Child Development, I am sure you know what I am talking about. Montessori is a philosophy where from preschool age they are taught all subjects instead of just like writing and counting (basically english and math.) They are also taught history, geography, science, and art. They are taught it at their age appropriate level and even for children who are speical education it works great because they work at their ability level and their pace.
When I think of Geometry, I think of all of those proofs, and the memorizing of things like how to find the hypotenuse. When you look at it as organizing objects based upon something they share in common, or following a simple map; these are things that they look at in preschool screenings. They have children organize objects based upon size, color, and finding the one that doesn’t belong. Many people also have children follow a map for a treasure hunt. Children seem to either be born with this ability, or learn at a very young age. Based upon that, geometry is easy.
I agree that we shouldn't wait to introduce geometry, as geometry is all around us. What I find really fascinating is the geometry found in nature. Honeycombs, snowflakes, seashells, seed spirals - geometry is everywhere. I think young children are particularly in tune with nature, and that this could be an easy way to introduce some basic geometric ideas to them. While discussing the Fibonacci sequence or the golden ratio would be far too advanced for very young students, things like patterns and symmetry in nature would be easily recognizable and understandable by them.
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