Arbitrary & necessary

1.       What does Hewitt mean by “arbitrary” and “necessary”? How do you decide, for a particular lesson, what is arbitrary and necessary?

2.       How might this idea influence how you plan your lessons, and particularly, how you decide “who does the math” in your math class?

According to Dave Hewitt, “arbitrary” means that students need to be au courant of the elements of a topic with the help of a teacher, book or internet whereas “necessary” means that students may become familiar of some elements depending upon their awareness they already have. Names and labels/ symbols can feel arbitrary for students as they don’t know the “WHY” behind it. For example: why are there 360˚ in a full turn. Students would not know this fact unless they are told about it.

When planning a lesson, I will consider the abilities of the students, as I might teach a Grade 9 math “honours” class differently as I would for a normal Grade 9. When I was a student, I didn’t even have the courage to ask the teacher about why a full turn = 360 ˚ but now since the students are more opened and encouraged to ask the questions, anytime they might ask teachers these kind of questions. As a student- teacher, I should be aware of how much “arbitrary” elements I should give so that the students do some efforts and try to find the interesting part behind the problem..