Word: basic
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...mathematics, apprenticeship methods focus less on formulas than on analyzing the way a mathematician chooses a path to a solution. The technique is valid for higher math as well as basic arithmetic. In East Lansing, Mich., Magdalene Lampert's fifth-graders connect numbers to real-world situations. Instead of dutifully working out common denominators to compare fractions, for example, one of her students reasoned that "five-sixths is smaller than seven-eighths because the piece that is missing in seven-eighths is smaller than in five-sixths." Says Lampert: "This reveals more complicated thinking and a better understanding of symbols...
...soul of the new machine, developed in conjunction with the David Sarnoff Research Center, is the same basic technology used by U.S. missiles to distinguish between Soviet and American warplanes. A sensor scans the space in front of the TV searching for patterns of light and dark -- the shine of a nose, the line of a mouth -- that suggest the presence of a face. A computer then makes more detailed scans at higher and higher resolutions, trying to match facial features to those of family members stored in its memory. (An unfamiliar face would be recorded as a "visitor.") When...
Last December a task force appointed by Illinois Governor James Thompson declared a financial emergency in East St. Louis and noted, in understatement, "There is growing public concern over the city's ability to provide basic municipal services required to ensure public safety and the welfare of its citizenry." Protested Mayor Officer: "I do all I can with the revenue I have." The task force offered a loan but conditioned it on Officer's accepting a state-approved financial director with total control over city spending. So far Officer has not agreed to that condition, and the municipal crisis deepens...
...think increasingly that we are dependent on other countries in the world, especially with the coming changes in the Economic Community," says Sander. "Working international elements into the basic courses will require more faculty...
...requirement is structured right now is not conducive to education in a basic sense. It is conducive to teaching a narrow bit of material," Lewis says...