Timeline for How can I counter a student response saying "Why are we bothered to reinvent the wheel when proving mathematical identities?"
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 17, 2020 at 23:43 | comment | added | Daniel R. Collins | Possible downside to (2) is that the student may submit garbage and insist that it's a proof that you don't understand, or something (crank-style). Related, I had a possibly learning-disabled college student who discovered the Collatz conjecture mentioned in our textbook, and kept submitting nonsense and asking if it was a proof, no matter how much I recommended that he stop. | |
| Sep 17, 2020 at 21:44 | comment | added | wizzwizz4 | I know. It's probably not on you if you get that sort of student, though. | |
| Sep 17, 2020 at 21:44 | comment | added | kjhughes | @wizzwizz4: I suggested offering, not assigning. Elaborate that challenging problems, some never before solved even, await but will first require mastery of the basics. | |
| Sep 17, 2020 at 21:38 | comment | added | wizzwizz4 | Other than the "roles" thing, there's a certain kind of person that would not quite get that the unsolved problem wasn't an actual task, and would not admit that they couldn't solve it, and would either burn out or drop out trying to solve it. | |
| Sep 17, 2020 at 21:34 | comment | added | kjhughes | @wizzwizz4: You might make a better professional educator than you think. ;-) | |
| Sep 17, 2020 at 21:19 | comment | added | wizzwizz4 | This is what I would do, which is a good argument for it not fitting the role of "what a professional educator should do". | |
| Sep 17, 2020 at 21:18 | history | answered | kjhughes | CC BY-SA 4.0 |