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A Question of Access

 

 

Comments on the Organization of Part 1 and Part 2

August 17, 2002

Footnotes made on May 28, 2006

 

 

The first part of “Question of Access” will have the form of an actual curriculum that re-teaches arithmetic in arbitrary number bases.  The curriculum was actually used in teaching four sections of college remedial arithmetic at Saint Paul’s College, Virginia, in 1994-95 academic year.

 

The second part of “Question of Access” will be a scholarly thesis on the problem of learned disability in arithmetic and the proposed remediation.

 

The hypothesis that the author has made is regarding the nature of the mind, and thus is not one that can be easily discussed without a solid grounding in the modern experimental literatures on human memory, awareness and anticipation.   The cognitive science and theoretical constructions on which this educational remediation depends are not easy subjects to master [1].

 

Some instructional material for freshman remediation is being developed for use in the classroom.  The theoretical foundation for this material is reviewed in Chapter 7 and 8.  The material itself makes become the basis for a textbook at some later time.

 

The challenging in writing this work is to provide access to the concepts in a way that is comfortable.  The use of narrative story telling will be used often.

 

The more rigorous grounding is covered in the Foundations, which hopefully will be published at about the same time as “Question of Access”. 

 

The author has a lot to do if the tone of  “Question of Access” is to be shaped by narrative and an appeal directly to those who may wish to understand a general theory of educational remediation. 

 

It is for this reason that the author has asked a college to consider his application for a visiting instructor of mathematics.  The request comes late in the hiring season, but it is the author’s deep interest to frame the opportunity clearly. 

 

The author wishes to teach three of four courses of introduction to mathematics for the next two semesters. 

 

We hope that the college will provide the opportunity that is critical if this book is to be completed.

 

 

 

The author’s oldest daughters are in college.  Catherine will be a freshman at Rochester University, in upper New York State.  Jenni will be a junior at the College of Charleston.   Sharon is a talented junior in High School here in Northern Virginia.  (2002)

 

The author’s wife, Pat, will maintain the family home in Northern Virginia; and has given me permission to take this sabbatical from Industry.   Perhaps the sabbatical will lead to the way of life that I have dreamed of since I was a young boy. 

 

Dr. Paul S. Prueitt

Chantilly Virginia

703-981-2676

 

 

 

 

 

These notes are formative towards Prueitt’s new book on learning theory.

 

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[1]  In making application for a one year teaching appointment, the following short note was sent to search committees. 

http://www.ontologystream.com/beads/QuestionOfAccess/2006Goals.htm