Eclipses

[asterroc]

Like any good researcher, when I noticed students responding a certain way to a free response question, I tried to tabulate what they all said, and turned it into multiple choice. Basically, the students were trying to describe why we don't have solar and lunar eclipses every month. The drawings below are based on the word descriptions from the students. And I wanna know what you think: which picture is the main reason why we don't have solar and lunar eclipses every month?

Descriptions in words:
A) "The Moon is in a different plane."
B) "The Moon's axis is tilted."
c) "The Moon goes above and below."
D) "The Moon's orbit isn't a perfect circle."
E) "The Moon's orbit is tilted."



[Poll #1956047]

Comments

[blahblahboy.livejournal.com]

A bit off topic but somewhat related:
I've been working with my 8 yr old nephew on some math problems and I've noticed that he guesses a lot or copies other answers without thinking about what the answer means. For the former I think he just relies on the adult to lead him to the answer, and in the latter case if I cover up the rest of the homework except the current problem he can sometimes just shutdown and unfocusedly stare. To try to combat the former I try to lead him incorrectly and then he agrees with my wrong answer! But I only work with him on these things once a week. I think his parents are doing a terrible job because he can have such a sneaky attitude to try to do this as lazily as possible, resulting in worthless learning.

What alarms me most is that he isn't even bothering to learn addition subtraction multiplication and division tables well. Should all kids know how to answer fourteen minus eight quickly? I think without the foundation he will be doomed in the future.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, so education research shows that sadly some amount of basic facts needs to be memorized, it's needed to build upon that to get a greater understanding. This is a bit frustrating to me with my learning style, because I have comparatively poor rote memorization skills. On the plus side though, I have a large framework of knowledge by this point and if I can find a way to slot new information into my existing framework, I learn it quickly and in depth.

TBH I'm still bad at my times tables and simple arithmetic - I never learned to do them quickly and I have to fish around for a while if someone asks me say, 7*8. It's still the arithmetic (or algebra requiring arithmetic) that's most likely to trip me up doing graduate level astrophysics problems. I'm not saying I don't understand the ideas of the arithmetic, it's just often faster for me to do by calculator, as long's I've got the right order of magnitude I'm unlikely to notice if I'm wrong, and if I do notice I've got the wrong OOM in my answer to a problem I'm unlikely to find my arithmetic/algebra error.

As for your nephew, one thing that might be relevant is how he's praised. Students/children who are praised for right answers tend to prefer easy problems which they know they can answer correctly, and are more likely to shut down if they don't know the answer instantly. On the other hand, children praised for effort are willing to try more difficult problems, take risks more, and don't mind saying incorrect things on the way to getting to right answers. Kinda surprising at first glance that just *how* one praises a child makes such a big difference, but it does. Basically it helps to instill the child with a set of beliefs about where intelligence/ability comes from - is it innate (and thus the child doesn't want to do anything that will reveal it if he isn't inherently talented after all), or is it something that can be developed (and thus the child wants to work harder to develop that talent)?

Obviously you don't want to be too critical of his parents (and don't forget that he could actually be showing you something different from what he shows his parents, so it might not be their "fault" after all), but you can always do things your way during your time with him. Have patience, and be consistent. And I'm glad you care. :)