My son's curriculum annoyed me. They must have taught a dozen different
ways you could do multiplication before discussing the column method.
The other methods were shortcuts you could do in specific situations. A
lot of them reminded me of the types of mental shortcuts I learned on my
own over time.
I understand they were trying to get kids to think about the
relationships between the numbers, but it caused him a lot of confusion
trying to figure out which method to apply. When I suggested using the
column method to double check his work he initially balked because he
wouldn't believe that the column method works with any set of numbers.
I feel like they did it backwards. I feel like they should have taught
the safe, rote method first and then come back to the alternate or
situational methods.
They didn't do times tables because they want you to understand how it
works without relying on memorization, but it also meant he was slower
at it and made more simple arithmetic errors. I do think it's useful
that they taught basic algebraic concepts early, like the fact that you
can break out the tens digits and multiply them separately and then add
in the product of the ones digits. That's a useful thing to understand.
I just think the pendulum went too far the other way because it's /also/
useful to intuitively know the simple answers before you have to think
about the hard ones.
-Adam
On 2/12/2021 12:20 PM, Carl Peterson wrote:
I actually love the way they are teaching my 5yo math. The focus
really seems to be on understanding the concepts of numbers and math
rather than memorizing random math facts.
On Fri, Feb 12, 2021 at 11:18 AM Carl Peterson
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Not sure of your source but I think you misunderstand.
https://www.mathnasium.com/littleton-news-when-one-correct-math-answer-is-not-enough
<https://www.mathnasium.com/littleton-news-when-one-correct-math-answer-is-not-enough>
"Reframing the above problem to encourage divergent thinking might
look something like this:
“Find the sum of 32 + 5 and then create more equations that have
the same sum.”
Theoretically, someone could keep thinking about this problem
forever and generate infinite correct answers."
On Fri, Feb 12, 2021 at 10:32 AM Chuck McCown via AF
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Just read of a push to teach a “new math” the encourages
multiple “correct answers” to math problems and eliminates
“show your work”. Supposedly cleanses math teaching from
institutional racism.
OK, irrespective of your genetics, heritage, cultural
backgropund and gender choices, if I tell an employee to go
read the sequentials off of a reel of cable and tell me how
much is left, they better get one frigging answer, the one and
only correct answer.
So I am an old fat entitled unwoke white guy. By some
accounts automatically racist. I don’t feel that way, but
again I am unwoke (whatever in the hell that means) so I
wouldn’t know.
I simply don’t get how getting the one and only right answer
in math class is institutional racism. Can you imagine
someone that came up through schools that allow this trying to
get into an engineering program? Now who is suppressing whom...
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