Well what are the four ways to do addition?
1. 5+9=14 2. let 9=10-1, 5+9=10-1+5=15-1=14 3. let 9=5+4, 5+9=5+5+4=14 4. cann't make it up
I truly pity the youth in whatever country thought that is smart
2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
31–40 of 116 posts
Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you don't learn your math tables by rote memorization, how are you ever going to be adept at algebra or anything based on it? If you can't just look at something like 2x = 4y and instantly simply it....
It's anecdotal I know, but for me the math table rote memorization was extremely detrimental to my learning of mathematics. It forced a mind set that implied that to be good at math you needed to be able to remember senseless unrelated facts, when in reality most of the advanced mathematics this will lead you completely astray as you cannot keep every formula in your head and it is much better to be able to derive th…
It certainly has its detriments, but my point still stands: if you go into Algebra I without knowing your math tables, you're going to hit a brick wall.
"Motivation" at a higher sense is something that's sorely lacking in US public school (free government school) math. Especially prior to real algebra, the teachers tend to be generalists who don't know to tell you "you need to learn X so you can learn Y which will allow you to solve problems like Z" and of course get you to understand why Z is neat and important. But that's a different sort of problem that just not making sure all students capable have the foundation they need.
Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
#33I think this summarizes all the rails against common core pretty well: http://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/21zdln/the_common_core...
Well I'm in the UK and it seems I was taught the "Common Core" way of doing things. All makes sense to me! Right down to using the quadratic formula to solve equations.
The "Old" way just looks weird...
Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
#34Well what are the four ways to do addition?
1) "counting on". 19 + 7 is (starts counting on) 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 (realise that 7 fingers have been used, stop counting on) 26
1a) "partitioning" 8 + 7 is 8, jump 2 to 10, then jump 5 to 15.
2) "thinking and estimating". 3998 + 4997 is nearly 4000 + 5000 and is exactly 4000 + 5000 - 5
3) traditional columns with units, tens, hundreds, etc.
Note that these are teaching small children how to manipulate numbers in their heads before they reach for paper and pencil. This builds up understanding of what numbers are, what the processes are doing, what the relationships between numbers are etc. these techniques are also building up skills for subtraction. Subtraction is not just "taking one number from another", it includes finding the difference between two numbers and techniques involve addition.
Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
#35Funny how today's leaders in math and programming all learned basic math the old fashioned way; now it's not good enough. Yet no one preaches teaching kids economics, basic taxation and interest rates, and how investing works. So we wind up with people who know math but get fooled by politicians and scammers.
> Yet no one preaches teaching kids economics, basic taxation and interest rates, and how investing works.
No one preaches it for much the same reason that no one preaches that people should breath regularly -- its not in dispute. What you ask for has been a standard, noncontroversial part of the curriculum for decades (at least in CA.)
Certainly, people do debate whether the way its taught is effective, or that it should be taught earlier or in more depth, as they do with most subjects in the curriculum.
Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
#36Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
#37I think this summarizes all the rails against common core pretty well: http://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/21zdln/the_common_core...
I just had a look and all the methods that were listed were taught to me as a kid. Then again, I went to "British" schools in the third world when I was a kid, so that might have something to do with it.
The methods that the Reddit user was saying was the "normal" way were completely alien to me. Both because they had no instructions, and because I wasn't taught them as a kid/ever.
Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
#38I think this summarizes all the rails against common core pretty well: http://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/21zdln/the_common_core...
OP describes himself as a professional mathematician and then fails to notice that common core produces an identical result in the third picture.
(-5/2)-sqrt(57/4) vs (-5-sqrt(57))/2
So why downvote my comment if it is apparently an April fools post?
Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
#39We choose my son's school based on the curriculum. They use Saxon maths, Spalding Reading (which includes phonograms), traditional teaching methods and the children wear uniforms. Its a Charter school and we love it.
My son (kindergarten) is loving math and has 2 or 3 worksheets of math a night as homework. A lot of it is just repetition from previous days concepts, but he feels really good showing us how well he knows "1st grade math." Its not really 1st grade math, but its more advanced than the public school kids that live in our neighborhood... AND way less frustrating it seems. I have yet to hear anything good about Common Core from my friends who deal with it on a regular basis.
Basis is a school here in Tucson that is one of the top 5 in the country. They use Saxon math as well: http://educationnext.org/high-scores-at-basis-charter-school...
If my son wants to go to Basis after grade school he will be prepared. If not... he will be so far ahead of the CC kids, we will probably just sign up for classes at the community college. We go here: http://www.legacytraditional.org/district-home/northwest-tuc...
Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bah... I can tell you why the first algorithm/example works because of the commutative and associative properties of math. Learning "why" a solution works, doesn't require learning some arcane algorithm. If kids don't learn how to do these problems quickly, they'll never be able to do higher order problems in a timely fashion.
That assumes they need to do higher order problems... For the majority of people some basic mental arithmetic is all they're ever going to need.
That's a pretty horrible attitude to take to learning.
It's like asking why ever read a book, with a level of english past the level of a memo asking if you have completed a task. This article also seems to suggest that people don't understand how to preform basic mental arithmetic.
In the states there also seems to be this insane way of thinking that you should learn an algorithm to do things in a particular way, if you can do it one way you should understand it and all the other methods should just fall into place.
This is a pretty good explanation of the problem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZED4gITL28