For the sake of argument, I’ll at least poke a bit at this bullet.
I have been in an advanced math class (in the US) with high school seniors and an 8th grader, who was probably the top student in the class. It was totally fine? Everyone learned math, because they liked math.
From what I can tell, the two key factors for mixing ages in math classes is something like:
Similar math skills.
Similar levels of interest in math.
So let’s imagine that you have a handful of 17-year-olds learning multivariate calculus, and one 7-year-old prodigy. My prediction is that it’s normally going to be fine.
And historically, the US had “one-room schoolhouses”, which mixed pretty wide age ranges. Even today, I know of rural schools that combine regular classrooms across two grades. And at least one of them is a very good school.
Where I do think this would be a terrible idea is if the 7 year old is a prodigy, and if the 17 year olds hate math and don’t want to be there.
Where I do think this would be a terrible idea is if the 7 year old is a prodigy, and if the 17 year olds hate math and don’t want to be there.
Exactly. In a 12th-grade/early college class with generally friendly students: I imagine if there was some very young prodigy attending they would quickly become the beloved “class mascot” kind of micro-celebrity.
For the sake of argument, I’ll at least poke a bit at this bullet.
I have been in an advanced math class (in the US) with high school seniors and an 8th grader, who was probably the top student in the class. It was totally fine? Everyone learned math, because they liked math.
From what I can tell, the two key factors for mixing ages in math classes is something like:
Similar math skills.
Similar levels of interest in math.
So let’s imagine that you have a handful of 17-year-olds learning multivariate calculus, and one 7-year-old prodigy. My prediction is that it’s normally going to be fine.
And historically, the US had “one-room schoolhouses”, which mixed pretty wide age ranges. Even today, I know of rural schools that combine regular classrooms across two grades. And at least one of them is a very good school.
Where I do think this would be a terrible idea is if the 7 year old is a prodigy, and if the 17 year olds hate math and don’t want to be there.
Exactly.
In a 12th-grade/early college class with generally friendly students: I imagine if there was some very young prodigy attending they would quickly become the beloved “class mascot” kind of micro-celebrity.