Edric Cane, Ph.D., author and educator
Acting Programs Director Terry Sweeney introduced our keynote speaker for the day, Edric Cane.
Terry said that Edric earned his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Paris, his Master's from Oxford, and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. All in literature.
He said that our speaker has had a distinguished career as a teacher in many places in the world and was the owner, teacher for the EDRIC CANE SEMINARS from 1976 to 1994.
Surprisingly (for us), when Edric turned 60, he went back to school and became a math teacher. He pursued this second career from 1994 to 2000.
He since had become a math adviser to teachers and has written (*lately) two books. Edric lives within walking distance of Ancil Hoffman and is just now working at a local school as a math teaching adviser.
Edric thanked the Club for inviting him to speak and said that there is a problem in our schools that about 10% or so of students just don't get math. This bodes not well for our country in these times when education is very important for our economic well being.
Edric mentioned a recent statement made by Defense Secretary Gates, when asked what was the greatest threat to the United States, and he answered "education".
What Dr. Cane has done is to suggest a paradigm shift in our thinking about teaching math to grammar and middle school students.
He has actually done an intervention working with teachers at a local school, twenty minutes for every day for three weeks and has the success rate of 83% with the "bad" students - bringing them up to normal.
Edric brought an example: if you have the example of 17 -6 +5 -4 +3, it can be difficult to visualize but if you draw circles around each one, then you can change the order any way you want. Take for instance -10 and +3 , putting circles around the numbers and using a number line, Edric's approach, students get it - because it is an intuitive approach.
This is just a new way of looking at math and it seems to have a lot of opposition from teachers. Edric is looking for acceptance of his unique way of looking at math in the schools.
Acting President Vince Iosso (taking over for Pres. David who has to go to another meeting), thanked Dr. Cane and said that in honor of his fine presentation, the Club is donating a book to the Carmichael Library.
Dr. Crane brought copies of his two latest books: TEACHING TO INTUITION - Constructive implementation of CCSS in Mathematics (2013) and MAKING FRIENDS WITH NUMBERS, Creative practice sheets for multiplication facts (2013)
His Website is: teachingtointuition.com
