what are the benifits of teaching Algebra early?

umm...I am 39 yrs old and I did Binary numbers. hmmmm....my mother taught me how before I learned in school. And she is 63 years old.....so you must be...........................


LOL...I am just teasing you. But yes, my mother did teach me how when I was quite little, but she also majored in physics in college at Rice University. Then later, she got her degree in Computer Science and was already working in that field when I was little. So she taught me binary and other base systems when I was little. Then it was in school when I went.

 

thats cool
Seriously though I was just wondering if I am doing the right thing letting ds go ahead in math and it seems that its an okay thing so as long as he keeps doing good I will let him.
I really do not recal learning about bionary numbers, Lol, ds asked me about base 2 and said "what am I learning about this for again? When will I use it in my real life>" lol

 

My husband would tell him that binary is the basis of computers. Anyone with a serious job in technology/programming needs to understand it.

 

yep, thats what I told him, the book was just calling it base2 but I reminded him what we learned last year was bionary and base two at the same time.. he got it then remembered and we found a super cool way to do it wiht your fingers!
I even let him write numbers on his fingers for the lesson!
He was so excited and really gets it.
He really enjoys his maths, just was curious as to what it would be used for. He is mr techie boy too since he was too little to write he has been creating and moving files.... etc, lol

 

I haven't read all the other posts here yet..but this is a personal soapbox so I had to spout off...

I am not a fan of early algebra. My belief is that for most people the abstract principles needed to really understand algebra are developmentally available until some time after 14...could be as late as 20ish.
A good student can get through algebra without understanding the abstract...but then it is a lot of rote memorization and they can rarely explain the why's of it or apply it to even a slightly different circumstance. (I did very well in my first algebra 1 in 9th grade by correcting my own papers...and squeaking by on tests)
I learned in algebra to hate math.
I took it again in 10th grade because I understood it to be important. (and they ended up accidently giving me credit for both...so maybe my diploma isn't valid, ha ha)
but I still did not understand it.
I LOVED geometry.
Then I took "lifestyle math"
cuz I couldnt face algebra 2
In college...(I was 24) algebra was easy! I had tested into remedial math (no surprise) but refused to take two classes (that I have to pay for) before taking one that counts toward my degree...so I got signed off by the dean to take the college algebra class. (it was a special class for the math phobic...but it counted) I was told that I would fail the class.
I got an A. It was not difficult at all and more than that I understood!!!! like a light went on. eureka!
Now...I am no math wiz...but I think if I had waited and taken the lifestyle math and geometry and THEN algebra I might have gotten it better.
It isn't a smart thing...it is a developmental thing.
That being said... I will offer up algebra to ds in the natural course of things. (9th grade) and if it goes well...great, if not...I will do some bookeeping and maybe geometry. so there.
(goodnsimple is now climbing off her soapbox, gingerly, picking tomatoes out of her hair.)