I never realized that holding two operations in mind would be this difficult. It surprised me. The age group being 10-11 years. I had given kids a series of statements, some correct some false. They had to first correct the false sentences and then write them out in the natural order.
This threw many of them in chaos. Should we write the correct statements also ? What to do with the false statements that are in some order ? The kids weren't all comfortable with the question. To understand and execute these two together needed a child to hold bigger picture in mind, to do it in a single step. He/she had to see the corrections and correct order in mind together.
As grown-ups, we can do a sequence of operations with ease. Some talented people can set priorities to operations to make computation easier. Some can readily see which operations are dependent on each other, and which other are independent and parallel. However, this is a very high-level competence.
In schools we typically put questions with specific operations. And often with a single specific way to arrive at the answer. The real life is full of multiple and inter-dependent operations. Are we doing enough to train children to manipulate operations, themselves ? Not quite.
We may need to do innovative exercises. Teach them to hold two operations in mind. And then to prioritise them intelligently.
This threw many of them in chaos. Should we write the correct statements also ? What to do with the false statements that are in some order ? The kids weren't all comfortable with the question. To understand and execute these two together needed a child to hold bigger picture in mind, to do it in a single step. He/she had to see the corrections and correct order in mind together.
As grown-ups, we can do a sequence of operations with ease. Some talented people can set priorities to operations to make computation easier. Some can readily see which operations are dependent on each other, and which other are independent and parallel. However, this is a very high-level competence.
In schools we typically put questions with specific operations. And often with a single specific way to arrive at the answer. The real life is full of multiple and inter-dependent operations. Are we doing enough to train children to manipulate operations, themselves ? Not quite.
We may need to do innovative exercises. Teach them to hold two operations in mind. And then to prioritise them intelligently.
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