Thread: Animal Farm
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Old 03-09-2012, 11:53 AM   #99
Lamplighter
Person who doesn't update the user title
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Bottom lands of the Missoula floods
Posts: 6,402
It's not really possible to define "common sense",
but it is a step now included in our school's teaching process,
that was not specifically included back in my day.

My G-daughters homework includes making an "estimate"
before working out the details of the problem.
So when they get an answer, they have a way to ask
if it seems "about right" or "makes sense".
Likewise, keeping track of the "units" in so-called "word" or "story" problems
is a helpful part of getting the correct answer.

I don't know how long schools have been doing this,
but I think these are great "innovations" in beginning math,
and can be used later on with more complex problems,
to avoid stupid blunders... like misplaced decimal points, etc.
.
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