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A good example of why well educated parents is more important than getting into the "the best schools".
Isn't that just a matter of chicken and the egg timing tautology? The parents are well educated presumably because they went to good schools.
Asking students to answer questions like the following are easy to zip through, but they provide a good place to pause and find a way to connect the physical mechanics of a solution to the reasoning behind it: "How would you explain to someone else why the fraction 1/2 greater than 1/4?" or "Why doesn't angle-angle-angle show congruence but angle-side-angle does?"
I've also noticed that the Common Core brings in advanced topics earlier without announcing to the student that it is an advanced topic. Ideas from algebra are brought in at natural points of the discussion rather than making a big deal of it. By the time that they realize they're learning algebra, they are already into many of the "rules" that would have otherwise been taught by rote. If you understand why you have to multiply both sides 5 to find out x/5 = 30, it feels much less arbitrary when the rules are made more explicit later.
A good example of why well educated parents is more important than getting into the "the best schools".
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Knowing "why" is exteremely helpful in many cases. But let's not forget that, on the other hand, memorization plays a huge part in learning, and not only in mathematics. Learning "why" multiplication works will not help you to retain the multiplication table in your head. (Also, in many cases the answer to a question "why" you might get will be plain wrong - sometimes because the correct answer is too complicated, so…
Memorizing multiplication tables is over rated. Seeing connections between those early multiples up to 12 is more interesting. Can be helpful I suppose in factorization. Maybe I just don't trust my memory (as in how am I sure that 7*8 is 56) and why I despise rote memorization and rather retain memory from use and practice. Regardless a good example of something to remember in math is the quadratic formula Still enjo…
As much as the Common Core standards are criticized here in California, I have to say that the emphasis on the "why" behind every operation is really fantastic. It's usually in the last section of each homework, but it provides a good discussion point when going over the homework each night. Asking students to answer questions like the following are easy to zip through, but they provide a good place to pause and find…
Math education is (kind of strangely) a bit of a battlefield in the US (maybe not so strangely, when everything else seems to be, too)... I think a big part of it is prevalent math anxiety - perhaps embarrassment at seeing unfamiliar things on the kid's homework. Along with this, there's still lingering bad PR from the 'New Math' of the seventies, which made it somehow acceptable to make the argument that we should stick to teaching math the same way forever. (Especially for people who believe that math hasn't changed since Newton.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Memorizing multiplication tables is over rated. Seeing connections between those early multiples up to 12 is more interesting. Can be helpful I suppose in factorization. Maybe I just don't trust my memory (as in how am I sure that 7*8 is 56) and why I despise rote memorization and rather retain memory from use and practice. Regardless a good example of something to remember in math is the quadratic formula Still enjo…
The best is the 9's table, how all the digits add up to 9. My mom's an elementary teacher and there's always a few third graders who figure that out on their own and love it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Memorizing multiplication tables is over rated. Seeing connections between those early multiples up to 12 is more interesting. Can be helpful I suppose in factorization. Maybe I just don't trust my memory (as in how am I sure that 7*8 is 56) and why I despise rote memorization and rather retain memory from use and practice. Regardless a good example of something to remember in math is the quadratic formula Still enjo…
The best is the 9's table, how all the digits add up to 9. My mom's an elementary teacher and there's always a few third graders who figure that out on their own and love it.
As much as the Common Core standards are criticized here in California, I have to say that the emphasis on the "why" behind every operation is really fantastic. It's usually in the last section of each homework, but it provides a good discussion point when going over the homework each night. Asking students to answer questions like the following are easy to zip through, but they provide a good place to pause and find…
A good example of why well educated parents is more important than getting into the "the best schools".
My parents both hated math but I loved it and excelled at it through public school. That was due 100% to my own interests and having two PhD math teachers in high school.
As much as the Common Core standards are criticized here in California, I have to say that the emphasis on the "why" behind every operation is really fantastic. It's usually in the last section of each homework, but it provides a good discussion point when going over the homework each night. Asking students to answer questions like the following are easy to zip through, but they provide a good place to pause and find…