THE
AGE FACTOR
Methodical Approach to Education [click]
Clarity of Definitions [click]
The Age Factor [click]
Systemic and Incremental Approach [click]
Fundamental Skills [click]
Conceptual Thinking [click]
AIMS believes that the overwhelming majority
of children with knowledge of arithmetic are ready to
enter the conceptual
world of algebra. They are ready to learn the basic
axioms and theorems of geometry and basic physics
as early as at the age of 11 and sometimes even at 10.
This belief is based on real-world experience.
There
is absolutely no reason
why
an average American child cannot deal with linear equations,
complex arithmetic and algebraic
expressions, etc. If a student knows
the multiplication table well and is skilled in
working with
fractions, he or she will have no problem understanding
distributive or commutative properties of mathematical
operations, will easily understand operations with
proportions, including algebraic proportions, and will
be able to deal with
powers
and their properties.
Keep in mind that in most developed European
countries students begin to deal with these topics very
early and by the 7th
grade
the majority of them are performing at an academic
level, which in the United States would be considered very
advanced for high school.
This means that by the 9th grade European students
are fully engaged in such fields as comprehensive
trigonometry, mathematical analysis, and in-depth analysis
of functions. European students would already know
approximately 140 fundamental theorems of geometry with
proofs; they will be entering
the 3rd year
of physics
and the 3rd year of chemistry.
American students
by this
time deal for the most part with the basic issues
of simple algebra and usually regard chemistry and
physics as some great unknown called "Science".
And
even when students take all those "advanced" courses
in school, they still lag behind
their European peers in terms of timing and the
intensity of the material.
For example, in Russian public schools
an average 10th-grade student would have the following
weekly science course load:
| Mathematics (algebra, calculus, geometry) |
10 academic hours |
Physics
|
6 academic hours |
Chemistry (inorganic)
|
4 academic hours |
| Biology |
2 academic hours |
And there are still such courses as history,
languages, literature, and geography. You will find
similar curricula in schools in the Scandinavian
countries, France, Germany, Austria and most other European
countries.
We have to ask ourselves a simple question:
why do we continue to deny our children the opportunity
for early academic development? Why do we think they
are not smart enough and not ready to face
the same academic challenges as their European peers?
Here we are only looking at the European public school
system, while curricula at many European private secondary
schools are more advanced than what's offered at many
American universities.
Who told us that it is
too early to learn differentiation at the age of 14
or 15,
or that it is impossible to know what Ohm's Laws
are at the age of 12? We at AIMS believe that the earlier
your student is introduced to complex topics of physics
and mathematics, the better.
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