'"But there is a world of difference between teaching “pure” math, with no context, and teaching relevant problems that will lead students to appreciate how a mathematical formula models and clarifies real-world situations. The former is how algebra courses currently proceed — introducing the mysterious variable x, which many students struggle to understand. By contrast, a contextual approach, in the style of all working scientists, would introduce formulas using abbreviations for simple quantities — for instance, Einstein’s famous equation E=mc2, where E stands for energy, m for mass and c for the speed of light."
From NYT. Yeah, so you mightn't understand what a formula is, but if you know that mass is really just energy divided by bloody all that divided by bloody fast, we could teach you...
... not that there isn't a modicum of sense in the article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/opinion/how-to-f...
Christ I wish I had training to log.