Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Week 6: Date, Time, and Place Value



Interestingly enough, the concept of triangulation I used to help Billy understand time last week was instrumental in helping him to understand the concept of place value.

Just like year, month, and day help you pinpoint a date; and hour, minute, and second help you pinpoint a time; so too do the ones, tens, and hundreds places of a number help you pinpoint a quantity.

Monopoly money be damned. 

As a follow-on to this thought, consider the idea that a thing is so much more than the sum of its parts. The ones, tens, and hundreds place of a number is a good way of representing a quantity, but ultimately, the quantity is so much more than just the sum of its place values, just like time as a concept is so much more than what the Gregorian calendar or a grandfather clock can articulate. 

Of course, I kept this last thought to myself, out of fear that such an insight at such an early age would have caused Billy's head to explode. Hopefully, one day, when he's more mature, he'll read this blog, and smile. =)

To the future!

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