In an earlier entry, I had mentioned the first five of Polya’s ten commandments for teaching. In a similar fashion to that entry, here are the last five rules with some comments on them:

6. Let them learn to guess: guessing can be a pathway to proof (in the case of mathematics) and discovery (in the case of sciences). The key is to make more educated guesses. It helps if an easier approach can be taken. In algorithm design, we are also used to first trying out easier methods and then resort to more subtle approaches. (more…)

The advanced reader who skips parts that appear too elementary may miss more than the reader who skips parts that appear too complex – G. Polya

I was going through some books when I re-discovered a classic work by George Polya. Polya, who is better known for his best selling work entitled ‘How to solve it‘, wrote extensively on methods of learning, teaching and problem solving. The book which I re-discovered is more in depth and is called ‘Mathematical Discovery: On Understanding, Learning, and Teaching Problem Solving’. In one of the essays in the book, Polya proposes ten perennial rules for teaching. I’ll summarise the first five with my personal thoughts on them: (more…)