ERIC Number: ED211143
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1981-Oct-9
Pages: 21
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
An Honors Approach to Remedial Instruction.
Lay, L. Clark
A rationale is presented for an honors approach to remedial algebra instruction. Beginning with questions to be considered in the initial placement of students, the paper suggests that remedial students be enrolled at a level low enough to provide them with a reasonable chance to be good, even honors, students. It goes on to identify and contrast two approaches to mathematics instruction, Advanced Mathematics from an Elementary Standpoint (AMES) and Elementary Mathematics from an Advanced Standpoint (EMAS), and concludes that EMAS is more appropriate for remedial classes. The paper then suggests beginning instruction at the 4th-grade level, an achievement level common to remedial students, and enumerates the algebraic concepts accessible to students at this level. Several broad assumptions are then enumerated concerning remedial mathematics instruction, e.g., the low mathematical competence among students, the failure of past curricular reforms, sources of student difficulties in mathematics, the appropriate sequencing of concepts in instruction, and the need for content improvement in courses. In the remainder of the paper, three examples of using EMAS methods to teach the transformation and solution of linear equations are presented and illustrated. These examples illustrate the analysis of linear equations using the monoids for addition and multiplication and the partial groupoids for subtraction and division which are basic math competencies at the 4th-grade level. (KL)
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the National Convention of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (New Orleans, LA, October 7-11, 1981).