Jim (Frysinger), Do the “new” Common Core Standards award equal value to (1) SI Units of Measurement and to (2) unit outside the SI which are now *defined* as awkward multiples of SI Units?
We agree that this teaching of both (of "buggy-whip units” in addition to SI Units) is a disaster for the education of youths in the US with respect to competition with youths educated in other countries. Years ago, I printed a copy of the original “Common Core State Standards” but I have yet to examine the “new” Common Core Standards in detail. I begin that examination later this morning. Gene Mechtly. On May 15, 2014, at 8:16 PM, James <[email protected]> wrote: > I've just taken a look at the background on the development of the new Common > Core Standards for education in the United States. > > Contrary to myth, this is not a federal program being "shoved down the > throats" of the states and their citizens. Rather, representatives from 48 > states devised the Common Core; 44 states have adopted it so far. In fact, > looking at a list of the participants, I found -- in addition to states' > representatives -- many professional national organizations but not a single > one from the federal government. If any of the latter were there, I missed > them. > > Contrary to another myth, the Common Core provides no curricula. It is up to > each state, local education system, and individual teacher to devise > curricula to attain the specified standard knowledge for each grade and > within each domain. > > Due to my military background, which involved many moves from one state to > another, I applaud a commonality among states in the standards for each grade > level. This avoids having the same standard being applied in one grade in one > state but a different grade in a different state. The latter greatly impedes > the education of students who move from one state to another during their > school years. That risks missing a concept entirely while being taught > another one for the second year in a row. > > The focus of my detailed inspection was on the Mathematics Standards, in > particular the domain of "Measurement and Data". That is due to my interest > in metrology. That domain is specifically covered in grades Kindergarten > through five. Of course, it is the underlying basis for parallel domains and > for domains addressed for grades 6 through 12. > > I found the sequence of standards in this domain to be utterly logical and I > deem them to be attainable. Unlike some early "new math" reforms, this one is > not what I would call "fuzzy math" nor does it contain esoteric abstract > concepts. Rather, it is well grounded with hands-on learning. (In math > education, the objects used to provide such grounding are called > "manipulatives".) > > The "Measurement and Data" domain can be seen, broken down by grade level, at > http://www.corestandards.org/read-the-standards/ > See also: > http://www.corestandards.org/other-resources/key-shifts-in-mathematics/ > > My one concern is that we are still teaching two "systems" of units -- metric > and non-metric. On a positive note, though, the metric system is included in > all of those six levels (K-5). This is a greater presence of SI in education > standards than I have seen before. Lorelle Young and I spoke with a > representative of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) > years ago to encourage them to do this. We were not very successful. > > The good news is, the organization(s) behind this consider it a work in > progress. There is still time, once the US gives up its buggy-whip units of > measurement, to streamline the standards by omitting them and thus provide > more time for learning metric units. One cautionary note, however -- the > concept of common and vulgar (non-decimal) fractions must still be taught! > > As a reminder, I looked specifically at the "Measurements and Data" domain. I > did not look (very deeply) at the other domains in the Mathematics Standards. > > Jim Frysinger > > -- > James R. Frysinger > 632 Stoney Point Mountain Road > Doyle TN 38559-3030 > > (C) 931.212.0267 > (H) 931.657.3107 > (F) 931.657.3108 >
