Posted on 11/24/2023 12:36:27 PM PST by DallasBiff
If your child's math homework has you scratching your head or groaning, you're not alone. Here's the scoop on the new approach to teaching math
(Excerpt) Read more at parents.com ...
I know because I was one of the poor kids that had to try learn the convoluted mess. I ended up one night in tears because I could not figure out how to divide. My dad asked me what was wrong, sat down with me and taught me how to do it. It was simple, there was no guessing and as long as you knew your times tables and subtracted correctly you got the right answer every time.
I went to school the next day and flew through the work and got a zero because I did not use the guessing method.
Dad visited the school to have a little chat with the teacher and principle. I do not know what was said but I never went back to that school.
Guess your right...
We had a good run.
“New math” is racist.
Yeah, but it’s how you get there now that the way kids are taught.
That article was an absolute waste of time.
What a horrible thing to do to kids.
In 1962, I was in seventh grade, in the first class that was first labeled “new math”. I did not do well, and was dropped back to normal math in 1963.
However, we were part of an experiment, so we were tested twice a year through the end of twelfth grade. I have no idea what was or wasn’t learned from the experiment.
As a sample of what it was like, we were told on the first day that we were now on a planet where the people had seven fingers. Counting from zero, our numbers were 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,10, and we eventually did all arithmetical processes in “base seven”, where large numbers had a ones column, a sevens column, a forty-nines column, a 343rds column, etc.
I have children who range in age from 43 to 14. Therefore, I have experienced many generations of “new math”. Any new math curriculum only lasts 3-5 years, after which all new books and study guides are produced and paid for, all teachers are re-trained, including to the need to show great enthusiasm for the mission.
I think the main purpose of all this frantic activity is to find a way, any way, by which smart children and stupid children will get the same grades.
Anyway, this is a 60+ year old problem, it’s not about Common Core, it’s not about Obama.
My grandma taught in NYC Public from 1911-1966. She was fortunate to retire before this got really bad.
Her observation about the prognosis for the mission of all this curriculum re-engineering has, however, stood the test of time:
“Somebody has to clean the subways”.
Hmmmmm ...
Base 7, eh? (and not taught particularly well ...) Not sure why you'd teach that to seventh graders. Or anyone else. Base two, base eight, and base sixteen, however, are very useful. I'd still suggest that mastery of base ten arithmetic prior to that is essential.
“New” math
“Reform” math
This is constructivist math, which has all been thoroughly discredited.
Are we to act as if the Math Wars never took place in this country?
“ … ignorant and unarmed because once they have enough control then the killings will start... “
What will be the point/purpose of the killings?
Why?
Every chance I get I sing the praises of my high school teacher Gerry Gazeau. He taught me “Gerry Gazeau’s Famous Test for Reasonableness”.
It gives like this,
If you’re trying to figure 11.0431% of $289.36 stop. Look and see that that’s about ten percent of three hundred dollars or thirty bucks. If you get an answer that’s not about thirty bucks, start over.
He also used the following explanation of orders of magnitude.
A thousand seconds is a coffee break
A million seconds is a vacation
A billion seconds is a career
A trillion seconds is about 315 centuries
Using that model and looking at our national debt as if it were seconds, it amounts to about 10,000 centuries.
This article brings into specific relief a murky problem. Written by mathematicians it makes logical sense. The questions is how does the student learn best. Teaching formulas emphasizes the what. Teaching why (math theory) is important as well. I didn’t get the why until advanced college math and abstract theory.
On its face, the description of looking for a ten is not bad. It’s how some people process. It’s logical but requires decent theoretical understanding. When one arrives at a solution the next question should be — does it make sense. Whether dealing with integers or exponents the concept of base 10 and power is essentially how to use a slide rule. Something that should still be taught and how the NASA controllers dealt with these problems prior to high speed processing of computers.
From a theoretical standpoint all this is trying to accomplish is theory with number crunching. It is looking to individualize education for maximum success applying rules of logic.
The problem is that the education majors who teach are as dumb as fence posts and if they can’t think logically there is no hope. In order for this to work, teachers also must have some sophistication in education theory. But most teachers are worthless 20 somethings more interested in telling their story about their sexual orientation and cramming it down a kids throat than actually teaching.
Some above have stated unidimensional thinking. It works for them. They crunch numbers. Unfortunately, people think and process differently. I actually think this is an excellent method as laid out but everyone is missing the point. It requires work to determine how a student thinks individually as opposed to everyone learns the same.
When one is unable to comprehend this it leads to the statements of politics instead of a well reasoned but difficult approach. It reveals in some that if they can’t think in a different way then everyone else is wrong
In order to make common core work (multiple ways to solve is a valid statement) it would require extensive education for the educators. In the current system that will not happen.
“ … Base 7, eh? (and not taught particularly well ...) Not sure why you’d teach that to seventh graders. Or anyone else. Base two, base eight, and base sixteen, however, are very useful. I’d still suggest that mastery of base ten arithmetic prior to that is essential..”
In the early 60s, (around 4th or 5th grade),I spent a few months doing arithmetic all in base 6. After that, they dropped that and the rest of my arithmetic education was base 10.
***Here’s the scoop on the new approach to teaching math***
___________________________
Hint: It doesn’t work!!
“All this stuff exposes the evil marriage of academics (who can always simply imagine the “right” way to do anything) with political totalitarians…”
ACADEMIC (ak-uh-DEM-ik)- An individual educated beyond his intelligence who, being unable to create or provide anything of value to others, pontificates and expects to be paid for it, usually from public funds, while hiding out in a college, university or “think tank”.
Sitting here chuckling! :)
I have a couple of friends that home schooled their son.
They spoke very highly of the Saxon Math program.
There are also some great lectures and videos on youtube and of course Kahn Academy.
We used Saxon math for our kids when we homeschooled and when they went to college, they all got in in then honors program at their respective universities and took calc their first semester instead of remedial math to get them ready for college level calc.
Well done.
I just retired from teaching at the maritime college in Maine.
We have good students who are focused on their careers but many have only average math skills.
I would say only 10% of our entering first year students take calculus their first semester.
As an aside, I needed to take college algebra and trig my freshmen year. After that I did well in all my math courses.
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