TITLE: How Should We Teach Algebra in 2012?
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: August 03, 2012  3:23 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
Earlier this week, Dan Meyer
<A HREF="http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=14736">
   took to task</A>
a New York Times opinion piece from the weekend,
<A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/opinion/sunday/is-algebra-necessary.html">
   Is Algebra Necessary?</A>:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
The interesting question isn't, "Should every high school
graduate in the US have to take Algebra?"  Our world is
increasingly automated and programmed and if you want any
kind of active participation in that world, you're going
to need to understand variable representation and
manipulation.  That's Algebra.  Without it, you'll still
be able to clothe and feed yourself, but that's a pretty
low bar for an education.  The more interesting question
is, "How should we define Algebra in 2012 and how should
we teach it?"  Those questions don't even seem to be on
Hacker's radar.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

"Variable representation and manipulation" is a big part
of programming, too.  The connection between algebra and
programming isn't accidental.  Matthias Felleisen
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2010-03.html#e2010-03-30T20_57_25.htm">
   won the ACM's Outstanding Educator Award in 2010</A>
for his long-term
<A HREF="http://www.teach-scheme.org/">
   TeachScheme!</A>
project, which has now evolved into
<A HREF="http://www.programbydesign.org/">
   Program by Design</A>.
In his SIGCSE 2011 keynote address, Felleisen talked about
the importance of
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2011-03.html#e2011-03-10T21_21_02.htm">
   a smooth progression of teaching languages</A>.
Another thing he said in that talk stuck with me.  While
talking about the programming that students learned, he
argued that this material could be taught in high school
right now, without displacing as much material as most
people think.  Why?  Because "This is algebra."

Algebra in 2012 still rests fundamentally on variable
representation and manipulation.  How should we teach it?
I agree with Felleisen.  Programming.
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