08-03-2008, 08:07 AM
FYI, Emily Messner's "Education Review" column has a good article in today's Washington Post Magazine regarding accelerated middle-school Math Education and the influence of calculators (with opposing views). The most prolific teachers seem to agree that calculators are a distraction, while a high school teacher interviewed seemed to think the graphing functions were a critical learning tool.
I am also reading "Innovation Nation" by John Kao where he frames math curriculum as a pressing national issue. It seems that everyone knows the U.S. needs to change something for the better, but knows not what!