If they had the 25 cents and were holding it, they'd be more likely to "get" that it was a nickel apiece because they would have to get the change to split it up.  

It has finally ceased to amaze me when explanations of math end up being further manipulation of symbols - often in the language the confused person doesn't understand.  I'd have whipped out twenty five pennies from the bottom of my purse and said "split 'em up into five groups."  Of course, that wasn't the point of the comedy :=) 

Now, another question is:  how many people could explain what was mathematically wrong with their procedure and explain it without saying "because that isn't how you do it" ?   The people who could would be more likely to be able to deal with a different culture's methods.  


Susan Jones
Academic Development Specialist
Academic Development Center
Parkland College
Champaign, IL  61821
sujones at parkland.edu
Webmastress,
http://www.resourceroom.net
http://bicyclecu.blogspot.com



>>> <nancy.friday at alphaplus.ca> 6/15/2007 1:25 PM >>>



Hi,

This video has circulated in Canada as well, because I have seen it before.
Interesting, I can't recall if when I received it if had the Kentucky label
attached.  If it had, I would have ignored that part and just focused on the
video.  I love the creativity in the solutions (even though they aren't
correct).  I like the fact that the man and woman are confident in the face of
the man in the suit to stand up and assert their perspective and apply the
knowledge that they have (because they do know adding and multiplying).  I
really like the fact that the couple reject the system and do things their own
way.

My hope would be from a learning perspective that the couple would be open to
seeing that their reasoning isn't correct.  If they were holding the 25 cents
and had to divide it, they might re-think their reasoning.  Which makes me this
as perhaps a power issue - who holds the money?

This clip also make me think about an experience I had when I worked front line
in a community-based literacy program here in Toronto and was engaged in
training new literacy volunteer tutors.  We were showing some ways to approach
math - particularly long division.  Normally in tutor training we would go into
the details of long division, but we had a cultural point to make.  Many
students and volunteers in our program had come to Canada from a range of
Caribbean countries.   Tutors who went through the Canadian school system
learned long division just one way and taught it that way.  Tutors and students
from the Caribbean, I believe an example came from Guyana, learned long division
another way.  When the Guyanese way was demonstrated, the Canadian-born tutors
were clearly shocked.  The point was to take cues from the students in terms of
observing how they approach tasks, be aware and respectful of cultures not your
own, and be open to learning in new ways.  Neither way of approaching long
division was wrong - both came to the correct answer - but forcing someone to
learn a way that doesn't come from their experience or previous knowledge, can
be counter productive.

I know that's not the case in this video - but the clip did take me back to that
long division place.

Nancy









"Burkett, Barry" <Barry.Burkett at Franklin.kyschools.us> on 06/15/2007 09:33:33 AM

Please respond to The Technology and Literacy Discussion List
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 To:      "The Technology and Literacy Discussion List"       
          <technology at nifl.gov>, "The Poverty, Race,   Women  
          and Literacy Discussion List"                       
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 cc:      (bcc: Nancy Friday)                                 
                                                              
                                                              
                                                              
 Subject: [Technology 1065]  FW: Kentucky Math                
                                                              







Hey guys,

I know we focus on literacy, but recently I have been putting time into
researching numeracy as well.  A student forwarded me this clip, it is
from a B&W television show, but I do not know its name.

2 things to focus on, first the creative way to solve the problem and
second the comments that came along with the e-mail.

On another path, the self-deprecating way these Kentuckians pass the
video around because it is funny, even though the tag is intentionally
labeled to degrade us, and give those outside of Kentucky a negative
view of Kentuckians... why do we intentionally set ourselves up to be
labeled ignorant?

And one more thing to notice, how dissimilar are the "incorrect"
mathemateers from our ABE students?  In my experience it seems that it
is not  that the majority of students do not know how to apply
information they know, it is that apply it incorrectly... early
misconceptions in both math and reading become amplified and detrimental
to the adult as they move through life.

Your thoughts?

Barry Burkett, Adult Educator
Thorn Hill Learning Center
Frankfort, KY
502.223.3110

"Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid; humans are
incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful
beyond imagination" - Albert Einstein

"While adult education should be viewed as a right, not as a stigmatized
second-chance program for those who have failed or dropped from out
school stystems, at the present time lifelong learning is only being
given lip service" (Askov, 2000, p. 259)


________________________________

From: sammdean40 at aol.com [mailto:sammdean40 at aol.com] 
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 1:46 PM
To: SDBROWN412 at aol.com; redneckgirl060 at yahoo.com; mooremn774 at aol.com;
janglin216 at yahoo.com; brock1050 at hotmail.com; deseree.thompson at ky.gov;
Burkett, Barry; shoppergirl at myway.com; vsw74 at yahoo.com 
Subject: Fwd: Kentucky Math





-----Original Message-----
From: GINA MARIE
To: suzanne ; pam bardis ; sammdean40 at aol.com 
Sent: Thu, 14 Jun 2007 1:13 pm
Subject: Fwd: FW: Kentucky Math


Ha Ha that's the way to count it huh?

Note: forwarded message attached.
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Attached Message
From:      Linville, Janice M (EPSB)
To:   Collins, Amber (KYTC) ; cntrygyrl20 at aol.com;
littlegurl1994 at aol.com; Sparks, Betty (KYTC) ; Krider, Bill E (DJJ) ;
Butler, Bobbie (AGR) ; cocoasugar07 at bored.com; Graham, Carla (EPSB) ;
Carla.Rice at education.ky.gov; Ritchey, Cecilia ; cinperry73 at yahoo.com;
Meriwether, Connie S (KSP) ; parker_cl at bellsouth.net;
mttgvt at bellsouth.net; dwaits at fewpb.net; eddie.davis at kysu.edu;
ggmarie66 at yahoo.com; Lathrem, Jennifer C (OET-FK) ;
lil_sister_dynamite at yahoo.com; Williams, Latasha (CHFS/DDS/LVSL) ;
nplgirl at bellsouth.net; mpayne at kheaa.com; ypatann at yahoo.com; Cornett,
Rhonda (KYTC) ; Lover Boy ; Sandy Kiser ; sannlinville at yahoo.com; Byrns,
Scott (KYTC) ; Shelby Keith ; Salchli, Sherrie (CHFS OIG Fraud) ;
frogie6 at aol.com; tammylee16 at hotmail.com 
Subject:   FW: Kentucky Math
Date:      Thu, 14 Jun 2007 13:00:01 -0400
This is too funny!  I know two kids that would try to pull this off at
school.
________________________________

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