Originally posted by TheFallibleFiend:
I've thought about this for a few days. I can't agree - only because I don't see that it would work.
Why not? Many intelligent 10 year olds write great computer programs that require more logic to understand than most maths theorems taught in university.
Real maths is not taught at all in primary and secondary education. When it comes to science we are teaching children some facts but we don't teach them the real thing.
Too much emphasis is placed on hands on learning. That's an infantile way of teaching things. It's appropriate for kindergarten, but not in school. Some experiments are ok, but we do too much and almost no theory at all. And if we don't do experiment we teach them about historical experimental facts which led to certain theories, but that's not a good way to teach these theories.
Take e.g. electromagnetism. The easy way to learn that is via Coulomb's law, electrical field, then special relativity. By demanding that you have consistency with special relativity you get the magnetic field and Maxwell's equations. You shouldn't go through Biot Savart's experiments and Farady's induction experments and laws etc. etc.
Special relativity b.t.w., can be easily explained to 12 year olds. It doesn't involve much more maths than you need to calculate at what time your school bus arrives at school, given the distance and the speed.
