Helen Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 Do read our new article from Professor Anne Cockburn at UEA I spent a long time thinking about zero not being "nothing" but in fact being "the absence of something". You can find the article here
Deb Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 Thank you for this article. As someone who somehow managed to achieve a CSE Grade 1 in Mathematics but does not see herself as a confident mathematician (despite managing my setting's financial administration quite well because it makes sense), I found this article very interesting. Maybe that is why I couldn't understand algebra at school - because I saw the = sign to be a call to action rather than equivalency! Like the picture in the article I always show the children clenched fists to illustrate zero and generally called 0 zero but 'nothing' has been known to be uttered from my lips too. Not any more! I had a feeling that 0 should be called zero but not why. I also like the idea of counting up from zero too as well as counting down to zero. Thank you!
Rea Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 Thank you for this article. As someone who somehow managed to achieve a CSE Grade 1 in Mathematics but does not see herself as a confident mathematician (despite managing my setting's financial administration quite well because it makes sense), I found this article very interesting. Ditto!! I had a quick scan though but I've saved it for a better read later. I love the idea of a bag with nothing in it. How simple!
Guest Posted June 28, 2011 Posted June 28, 2011 I really enjoyed this article which has certainly given me food for thought. Although an early years trained teacher, years ago when my children were small I did supply teaching for a few years where I taught up to Year 6. I found that I was completely at sea when I had to teach long multiplication and long division as it was so different from the way I'd been taught at school. Even now I still prefer to use the 'old' way (if no calculator is at hand).
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