Customer comments:

Customer Feedback

I didn't have a problem with the way _Teaching Textbooks_ presented the information because they explain the "why" of how things work, which I believe is so important to the learning of mathematics, but the problems are pretty basic and do not promote the higher level thinking skills that are important as they progress in their mathematics career.

I am most familiar with _Thinkwell_, as the mathematics professor involved in all of the videos (Edward Burger) teaches at Williams College, and I have some connections with this school. I worked on a research project with another professor from their mathematics department, and this school excels in mathematics teaching and curriculum. I met Edward Burger at a mathematics conference a couple years ago, and he is a humorous guy who makes the learning of mathematics fun for students of all ages. Since Xxxxxx and Xxxxxxx aren't succeeding as well as they can be in mathematics, they might need a different approach than the traditional textbook/pencil and paper method. I think the video presentations would be great for them, because it makes the learning of mathematics interactive, provides visual aides for them, and Edward Burger shows that math is exciting. He also applies the material, which is so important because it shows students why they should be learning what they are learning. Although they only offer 13 practice problems, you could try giving them additional problems from supplemental resources, such as edhelper.com, where you can print additional math worksheets to complement the material they are learning. Since the 13 problems they do provide are multiple choice, I don't think this is a terrible thing, as they will still need to work out the problems themselves, and the choices could always be eliminated or covered up for them. https://www.sonlight-forums.com/showthread.php?p=1847954#poststop 4.30.08

https://www.sonlight-forums.com/showthread.php?p=1677626#poststop - positive added 3.7.08

https://www.sonlight-forums.com/showthread.php?t=132423 - some negative and positive responses added 3.7.08

Pre 2008 customer comments:

  • The quadratic formula is not covered until Algebra II, which is the same as in Videotext.
  • from Dr Wile, logarithms are not covered anywhere in the three TT courses. It is a standard subject that rigorous math courses cover in algebra 2.
  • quoting an SL customer's comments about a conversation with the authors of TT:Basically I told him that I liked his program - a lot. I told him why I liked it.
Then I said I ws struggling, though, with one recurring criticism I kept seeing, most lately in the Sonlight Forums, and also from Dr. Jay Wile. This criticism, of course, was about TT not being rigorous enough, and specifically no logs covered in Alg II. He was a good listener, and was very open to hearing the criticisms, and then provided his explanation.
He said that until recent years (meaning, I think, about 10-15 years ago), logs were NOT typically covered in an Alg. II course. As the textbook publishing world got to be more competetive, more topics were added to Alg. II textbooks, specifically including logs.
He sait that TT textbook's ommission of logs in Alg. II is NOT an accident, but by deliberate choice for several reasons. First of all, their Alg. II text is already huge, nearly 800 pages, because of the thorough explanations and many story problems. But they also felt that logs just don't naturally 'fit' in Alg. II. Therefore, they will be a part of their new pre-calculus course which will be available for the fall 2007 school year. He said that trigonometry by itself does not naturally fill an entire school year and so putting logs in with the trig. fit well. It is taught as one of the first topics in the course, and a student taking this pre-calc. course simultaneous with a Chemistry course would be more than fine. He also said that for those who are particularly concerned about logs, and their absence from Alg. II, that when the pre-calc. course was finished, the log portion would be posted on their web-site, and it would be available for those who wanted to either include it with Alg. II or teach it prior to Chemistry, if they were concerned about their student being enrolled in pre-calc and Chemistry concurrently.
Finally, he stated that the difficulty level of the program was very specifically designed with an eye on the SAT standards, level of difficulty, and types of problems. He also said that a student that took Alg. I, Geom., and Alg. II would be well-prepared to be simultaneously enrolled in pre-calc and Chemistry --- by design.
He felt strongly that the accusation of the program being insufficiently rigorous was unfounded. He cautioned to not confuse TT's choice to teach things in a slightly different order with a lack of depth, and compared this to the way some things in Singapore math are taught in different orders - and we all know Singapore is NOT lacking in rigorousness.
He reiterrated that they have phone and email support available, in addition to the CDs that have every single problem worked out.
You know - it makes sense to me. And I have to say I was impressed with what clearly was a thoroughly thought out choice, and also with his willingness to be 'grilled' by a complete stranger who was only possibly a future customer.