Prodigies and geniuses

I found an interesting story on Yahoo today about a 13 year old young man, Colin Carlson, who is attending the University of Connecticut. He is doing well in his ecology and environmental studies with a 3.9 GPA (good by any standard) and plans on attending graduate school later in his teens. Obviously, he has an IQ at genius level. These types of individuals are rare and I am guessing his IQ approaches the off the charts level of 200 even at his young age. Many psychological studies have been performed on these types of individuals.

It appears as if our young protege is having problems completing his degree though. He is required to take a course in South Africa and UConn is not allowing him to attend due to safety reasons associated with his age (remember he is barely a teenager). The universities official line is,

Michael Kirk, a spokesman for UConn, would not comment on Colin's case. But he said that generally, safety is the university's first concern when travel is involved.

In true American fashion, the young teenager's mother responds with a lawsuit claiming age discrimination.

He and his mother say university officials told them he is too young for the overseas course. So he's filed an age discrimination claim with the university and U.S. Department of Education, which is investigating.

Finally, to top off these unusual circumstances the young prodigy claims,

"I'm losing time in my four-year plan for college," he said. "They're upsetting the framework of one of my majors."

The article goes on to mention he graduated from a high school curriculum at age 11 and how he felt out of place at school with pupils his own age. Yes, someone that smart would have trouble functioning in middle school where the rest of his cohort currently resides. I do believe we should allow students who are far ahead of their peers to skip a few grades. This case is a little extreme though.

IQ is just one measure of capability. It measure how well an individual solves a certain kind of problem. The test fails to measure other factors that lead to success like hard work, people skills and dedication. These skills develop over time resulting in a successful, mature person. This kid may be intellectually capable, but he will not be mature enough to deal with the kind of work a Ph D performs at only 22. I was considered a young Ph D when graduating at 29. The 7 years of living after 22 rounded out my general knowledge of the world. I fear this prodigy is going to end up as a puppet for some cruel entity wasting away his talent. This even does not touch on the simple concept of doing things that a teenager and young adult does at those ages. No prom, dates or other normal youth activities for him.

Finally, universities should put age limits on full time students. I would guess that 15 or 16 would be appropriate. That would stop these weird situations from appearing. UConn was right in not allowing the genius to travel to a dangerous country like South Africa. UConn was wrong in allowing him to be a full time student on track for a degree.

Learning by Computer or Learning the Computer

Screen shot of Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers

My friend Joe recently posted this comment on Facebook concerning learning and suffering:

” Pathein estin mathein, mathein estin pathein.”
To learn is to suffer; to suffer is to learn.
-Aeschylus, Agamemnon (paraphrased)

Does learning have to be painful, or can it be made more pleasurable?

This brings up an old debate about calculators or computers being used for math education. When is the computer useful for learning or when is the computer doing the work for the student? Personally, I think calculators are great for math that requires tables (logs) or excessive amounts of algebra, i.e. complex differential equations. Unfortunately, basic math like multiplication tables require memorization to grasp the knowledge. Significant amounts of work is involved. Repetition is what allows students to recall values in the future. Making the repetitious process less tedious would result in students being more willing to memorize.

Taking this into consideration, I think computers could be used for basic mathematics education in an interactive manner. The program would require students to follow a programmed series of scenarios with the student controlling the action in a video game. The student could have a customized character going through a mathematical world. Think Indiana Jones running through a jungle maze. Each step of the way through the game, a student makes one of two inputs answering questions:
1) answers with exact numbers

2) multiple choice numbers.

The method in which a student answers the question depends on the

question being asked. The game based on multiplication tables would present a question on screen:

5 × 5 = ?

If the student types in the correct answer of 25, the character proceeds in the game. The next question is presented and the cycle is repeated. Wrong answers would have the same question repeated up to three times after which a new question is posed. The character remains in place until a correct answer is given. In a more advanced level, the multiple choice option would be utilized with equations. The jungle landscape would then fit the equation’s plotted shape. The final touch would be to have students compete with each other within a multiplayer game. Keep students interested by getting the competitive juices flowing.