Posted on 03/07/2023 8:29:37 AM PST by Rummyfan
Please "stop talking about so-called learning loss," writes Jo Boaler, a Stanford professor and math reform advocate, on the Hechinger Report.
Math scores are way down: The Education Recovery Scorecard estimates students lost half a year. But Boaler believes it doesn't matter. It's "quite clear" the students gained “knowledge and insights about the world, health challenges, global upheaval, exponential growth, technology, and ways to help their families and navigate complex social situations,” she writes.
This is not clear to me at all. If anything, it's quite clear that many lost the ability to navigate complex -- or even simple -- social situations, and I'm dubious about their knowledge and insights too. Screen time soared. That doesn't mean they're masters of technology. Physical and mental health declined.
Learning math matters, responds Fordham's Nathaniel Grossman. Two decades of growth was "wiped out in just three years," NAEP scores revealed. If we don't do something about learning loss, this generation could be locked out of high-paying STEM careers, he writes. "One Stanford economist estimates that it’ll reduce the lifetime earnings of students by $70,000 and cause a $28 trillion hit to the American economy."
(Excerpt) Read more at joannejacobs.com ...
The best math teacher I ever had explained the following,
A thousand seconds is a coffee break
A million seconds is a vacation
A billion seconds is a career
And a trillion seconds is 315 centuries.
He went on to explain that if the question is something like 11.0241% of $289.31 your answer is going to look a lot like $30. If you get an answer far different from $30, start over.
Math is the best way to develop a good “BS Meter”.
The conspiracy to keep them stupid, poor, and voting Democrat.
Math reform?
it’s not that we need math to survive, but those who are out to steal all we have are counting on that we do not know math.
The way they taught math in the 1930s and 40s was absolutely fine. Use those textbooks. Kids will learn addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, decimals, fractions, percentages, basic geometry, and algebra. Not even challenging. The curriculum is already laid out.
Ordinary people do use algebra in their daily lives, even if they don’t think of it as “using algebra”. It’s basic stuff and everyone should learn it.
Once kids get into High School, a very small number of them may wish to explore areas that might be considered “higher mathematics” such as trigonometry and calculus. Ordinary people will never need that stuff.
Current math education probably works well for 5% of the population. Go back to the 1930s and 40s and you can serve 95% of the population.
But it’s almost like the education establishment doesn’t want to teach math well.
One of my favorite Asimov works is "Only a Trillion". Fascinating read.
>But it’s almost like the education establishment doesn’t want to teach math well.
I’d gander a guess that their collective math skills are lacking. You can’t teach what you don’t know.
Current math for third to eighth grade uses all sorts of stupid principles and methods. It is educators stupidity that is ruining our future.
Yes. Chicken and the egg sort of problem.
Most states require an education degree if you want to teach in a public school. But you can guess the standard course material for adults getting a 4-year degree in education. It’s about designing a lesson plan, classroom management, and lots of political indoctrination.
The idea that an education major might get their college degree after mastering 4th grade mathematics (as an example) is laughable. That’s not what they are there for. But it should be. And so you end up with adults teaching 4th graders how to handle factions or percentages when the teacher never really got a handle on that stuff herself.
They need to rebuild the whole system. Because the teachers have been taught “how to teach” but they don’t actually “know the material”.
A thousand seconds is a coffee break
A million seconds is a vacation
A billion seconds is a career
And a trillion seconds is 315 centuries.
(This should be posted on Billboards leading into Washington DC)
Didn’t they tell us recently that demanding a correct answer to a math problem was racist?
I homeschooled my daughter in basic algebra. I was appalled that the teachers edition of the textbook gave the teacher scripts to read out loud for explaining concepts. So the “teacher” doesn’t actually have to know any algebra at all.
If students math knowledge is being tested to see if they understand the "new" way of doing math, and they don't, this could be a good thing.
If their parents taught them the "old" way of doing math, and they get the answers right during the lock down, the students might be better off.
Similar thoughts. A variation of that demonstrates the insanity of government spending.
The basic arithmetic and math skills useful to over 95% of the population, and how to teach them, have been well understood for ages. Continuing tried and true methods would serve students very well. The various New Math fads come and go frequently for several reasons:
1) the need to build ed school and public school admin careers by constantly proclaiming reinvention of the wheel;
2) the desire to make money by selling new textbooks for the latest fad;
3) the political refusal to acknowledge that some students can’t learn basic math because they have low IQs, inability to concentrate, no discipline, chaotic lives and homes, no motivation, etc.
Math is racist primarily because you can mathematically prove that fossil fuels are a hoax
Teaching Math In 1950
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?
Teaching Math In 1960
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. Whatis his profit?
Teaching Math In 1970
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?
Teaching Math In 1980
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20 Your assignment: Underline the number 20.
Teaching Math In 1990
A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living?
Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers.)
Teaching Math In 2005
Un ranchero vende una carretera de madera para $100. El cuesto de la produccion era $80. Cuantos tortillas
se puede comprar?
The conspiracy to keep them stupid, poor, and voting Democrat and buying lottery tickets!
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