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That's hysterical!

I don't know whether to laugh or cry!

-- CarolynJohnston - 27 May 2005

There's more where that came from.

-- CatherineJohnson - 31 May 2005

I don't why folks say you have no sense of humor, Catherine. This was a hoot.

I'm ashamed to admit it but when I hit the base5 stuff I said "uh-oh" and that set me to giggling like a dope (but only for a moment, I swear).

How much do we need to paypal you to post the answer sheet ;)

-- RayMinchew - 08 Jun 2005

Oh gosh, Ray.

Base five just about did me in, let me tell you.

Plus, I had to do it in Saxon AND in Parker & Baldridge.

-- CatherineJohnson - 09 Jun 2005

NCTM math makes a BIG deal about place value and conceptual understanding. The base five stuff should be trivial for them, shouldn't it? But it requires long division, so that's that. I bet they couldn't explain it conceptually, either. Now, which problem above requires real mathematical understanding?

-- SteveH - 14 Jun 2005

I go for the first problem.

I loved base conversions when I was in grade school, but other than conversions to base 16 (hexadecimal), which I do almost every day in the course of work, what good are they?

Comparing the first problem to the last, I'm struck by the thought that they're testing entirely different mental functions of the brain. I feel very comfortable positing that an appropriate scan would show completely different areas lighting up. And in the case of the last problem, the mathematics area wouldn't light up at all.

-- WichitaBoy - 17 Jul 2005

Just found this comment!

This comparison is slightly deceptive in that the final problem in Saxon Math--the Base 5 problem--is in fact in the Appendix.

It's not a regular lesson, and isn't given the same weight as a regular lesson.

I wanted to take the very final problem in each book....and I did.

I should probably add that the final page of TRAILBLAZERS isn't, IMO, all that different from other pages--although other pages do have more problems involving numbers and word problems.

The final page in TRAILBLAZERS is intended to increase metacognitive skills.....something I discovered while reading the NRC's book on the brain and learning.

I'll post something about it at some point.

-- CatherineJohnson - 19 Jul 2005