Hi Peter
Thanks for all the comments that you made. You seem to have a really broad perspective on it. I am especially interested to hear from someone who has actually taught at this level. My initial impression of the Jasper series was positive - and still remains that way - but I come from a high school/adult education background. Ideas like having students work in cooperative groups seem great to me - but after reading your comments I realize that it might not be as easy as saying to the students, "OK, get in your groups now and cooperate." : )
The only other point of reference I have right now for children at that age is my 10-year-old son. I know he would be ready for and willing to do a Jasper challenge (I asked him!) However, I know many kids about his age who wouldn't be able to deal with the complexity of the information and the idea of working in groups.
You said, "...many of my students like drill and test software – it is a challenge, it is timed and if you add in behaviourist reward structures they will apply themselves." I've seen this as well, not only with my own kids, but with my adult students at school. People like doing things at which they can be successful. My kids like Math Blaster, a perfect example of drill and practice software where you get to blast the aliens. In a basic math course at work, adult students want to do multiplication of decimals by hand (even though they can use a calculator) just to prove to you and themselves that they can do it. With some students, too much information or too many steps causes frustration and feelings of inadequacy that are hard to help them work through. I'm wondering if introducing projects like the Jasper series would be counter-productive for some.
You mentioned, "It’s a lot of viewing, hoop jumping, and rigermarole to go through to simply practice these measurement skills." I'm not sure that just practicing measurement skills is the point here. I came away with the impression that the point is to let students know that it's helpful to be able to use math skills in everyday life situations; to get kids to work together to generate alternative solutions; and to be able to discuss solutions and defend their reasoning.
As they stand, the Jasper videos would not be useful at this time in Canada. I agree with your comment, "On a practical level, there is a huge problem with imperial measurements here." They're pretty dated now, as well, and I don't know if anyone owns a videodisc player (is that what they're called?).
Anyway, thanks for all the "stuff to chew on."