Monday, January 26, 2009

DOTS METHOD (PART 1)

The program starts by teaching not numerals (1, 2, 3, or I, II, III) but rather quantity: showing a card with five red dots on it and saying, "This is FIVE!" You teach quantities up to 100, which takes about 10 weeks. Babies who have learned quantity can tell the difference between a card with 99 and 98 dots on it (or 99 and 98 people, pennies, cars, anything). It is absolutely amazing.

After a couple weeks of teaching quantity the baby can learn the meanings of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division by being shown (with the quantity cards) these processes in action: ten plus three equals thirteen. And in turn, since they can actually SEE the number of dots, later on they can do any and all math instantly: ask any three-year-old who was trained on this program what fifteen times six plus twenty divided by ten equals, and without much thought or effort he can tell you in an instant: 11 of course! He can actually see the numbers (dots) being "manipulated" (added, subtracted, multiplied, and divided) and does not have to go through the pain-staking "put down the two and carry the seven" that we did when we first learned math.

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