I totally agree with Conrad Wolfram: education changes (too) slowly although it is so obvious that we should learn computer math, not math, turn to explorative learning with learner-centered learning arrangements ...
Why is this so? Because educators cling to idols from past eras, rarely innovative didactic approaches are risked.
A few examples of such idols:
- lectures - by presenting, lectures drown exploration and construction of knowledge, reasoning, ... Lecturers benefit more than listeners.
- mentoring - instead of reciprocal coaching mentors promote fixed approaches, algorithms, rules, ..
- traditions - instead of learning daily from new experiences, students get look backs into what has been identified as standard
- performance reviews - usually such reviews are made by matching patterns of results with what is called the-best-solution.
- critical thinking - instead of engaging, brainpower is truncated by "Wrong!" attacks. Cynics kills incentives
Computer based math is self-paced, engages to learn in scenarios, presents results in insightful ways, ... it perfectly combines white-box and black-box principles and gives learners the feeling that algorithms have also an economic component (performance and resource usage). And that there are minimalist approaches that are adequate and robust.
New neuron pathways grow by applying ...
I really find the CBM initiative indispensable, but it need patience - too much of the we-always-have-done-this need to be changed.
But things finally change: think of descriptive geometry, replaced by geometric modeling ....
