Why are we worried that elementary school children might misunderstand arithmetic? This is the problem with the Common Core math standards, that they think you need to have a perfect understanding of something before you can move on, and if you have moved on then you have a perfect understanding of everything that came before it. That's just not how math works at any level! Understanding counting and arithmetic and n…
2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
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Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
#82You know when I in my job try something new and it doesn't work out my company might lose a contract or in a really bad case I lose my job. When we as a society decide unilaterally that we are going to change a few century's worth of teaching style for something new we risk raising a generation of children who can't do simple math. I am not worried about if this method is "better" according to research. I am worried…
You're being ruled by fear. Fear is not a place from which good logical decisions are made; if the research says it's better, then it's better; you don't keep doing the worse way just because you're used to it and fearful of anything new.
This isn't a place for "some research points to this being better" we currently raised millions of children who _can_ do math just fine the current way. Do you want to just change it because someone says they might have found a better way. This is the kind of change that should have happened over _decades_ slowly to prove its self not as one big political push with no real world example of broad success.
What happens when it turns out a combination of poor training of teachers and lack of exposure by parents combines to produce an entire generation that can't do the most basic of math problems. Who will be do the STEM work in this country when we don't have enough students who know basic math let alone calculus and beyond. Your betting the future of the American economy and society on this change you better have more proof for it then "we did a study"
Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
#83I'd never heard of this before, but looking up some of the controversy, I found this article: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/03/07/abou... It actually makes some sense. I'm still skeptical, but it's sounding like it's just a significant departure from the rote memorization methods I grew up with.
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....
> 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?
Common Core includes memorization of tables. For instance, it explicitly calls for knowing from memory all products of two one-digit numbers by the end of Grade 3. By the time the students get to algebra, they'll be ready for simplifying 2x=4y.
What is covered in each grade is given here: http://www.corestandards.org/Math/
A lot of the criticism I've read of it seems to be from people who have been comparing grade X of CC (where X is the grade their kid is in) to what they remember learning in grade X when they were a kid, and conclude that CC does not teach the things they learned in grade X. In fact, it often does teach those things--just in a different grade, or later in the grade X year.
Note that I'm NOT saying CC is better than prior K-12 math programs. I'm just saying that comparisons should be done between CC and prior programs by comparing them as K-12 programs, not by comparing them for specific grades.
Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
#84Earlier 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....
> 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? Common Core includes memorization of tables. For instance, it explicitly calls for knowing from memory all products of two one-digit numbers by the end of Grade 3. By the time the students get to algebra, they'll be ready for simplifying 2x=4y. What is covered in each grade is given here:…
That's good, not to mention better than I expected ^_^.
But I'm replying to all those who denounce rote memorization in whatever context, and claim this is not necessary to be good at math (or for a very large fraction of children, phonics, in order to later read well).
(It's something I've recently gotten really focused on, after a sister-in-law asked for help: one of her kids is great with numbers (even deduced negative numbers on his own, and asked her what they meant), but the eldest just cannot memorize the math tables, and we're despairing about what to do.)
Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're being ruled by fear. Fear is not a place from which good logical decisions are made; if the research says it's better, then it's better; you don't keep doing the worse way just because you're used to it and fearful of anything new.
This isn't a place for "some research points to this being better" we currently raised millions of children who _can_ do math just fine the current way. Do you want to just change it because someone says they might have found a better way. This is the kind of change that should have happened over _decades_ slowly to prove its self not as one big political push with no real world example of broad success. What happens…
That was exactly how phonics were tossed in the middle of the last century, resulting in a huge cohort of people no longer being able to read, as scathingly detailed in the 1955 Why Johnny Can't Read (followed in 1958 with a small item in the Reader's Digest, "Why Johnny Can Read in Joplin", my home town; read that in the early-mid '70s from ones my grandmother saved).
From memory, it was justified with a study of students at a University of Chicago associated school, i.e. lots of children of professors, they were obviously in the fairly large cohort that just pick up reading on their own. Those who don't were left to the tender mercies of Dick and Jane and their running dog Spot as Jerry Pournelle likes to put it, his wife used to successfully teach reading to the hardest of hard cases, juveniles in criminal detention.
Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
It may be steep at first, but almost every problems involve breaking them into manageable chunks, let's hope it pays on the long run.
These are peoples' lives they are affecting. "Hope" and "politics" shouldn't be a part of the decision making process.
It's a choice, known but flawed vs potentially better or worse. It's already there in many places, the world is complex and everything moves from imperfect state to another imperfect state. To me the value is that it's obviously the right direction. Mechanical learning in mathematics is very very damaging for kids that can't click right away, and even those who get the picture may fail later on by abstracting at the syntactical level instead of the conceptual one.
Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
#87Without reading the fine article except for searching for "calculus", I'll note that I've confirmed an accusation at the other end: the Common Core does not even reach precalculus by the end of high school. No student in a school solely based on it will be taking AP Calculus, let alone be able to attend MIT or Caltech (the former requires you to be ready to learn the calculus, the latter demands you've already learne…
The idea that Common Core prevents students from taking calculus is disputed: http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2014/04/a_sorry_at... Further, a citation to Caltech's admission policy would be handy; I found sources directly disputing your claim (also in the context of Common Core), citing Caltech Math1a to rebut it.
Academic preparation Caltech says you should have [1]:
4 years of math (including calculus)
1 year of physics
1 year of chemistry
3 years of English (4 years recommended)
1 year of U.S. history/government (waived for international students)
What if my high school does not offer Advanced
Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB)
courses?
Many schools don't offer the AP or IB curricula.
Regardless of the curriculum your school offers, we
expect that you will have challenged yourself with
demanding courses. The Caltech curriculum will require
that you have completed rigorous courses in calculus and
in physics. If these courses are not available in your
high school, we strongly encourage you to take them at a
local college or online.
--------- BEGIN QUOTE -----------
Ma 1 abc. Calculus of One and Several Variables and Linear Algebra. 9 units (4-0-5); first, second, third terms. Prerequisites: high-school algebra, trigonometry, and calculus. Special section of Ma 1 a, 12 units (5-0-7). Review of calculus. Complex numbers, Taylor polynomials, infinite series. Comprehensive presentation of linear algebra. Derivatives of vector functions, multiple integrals, line and path integrals, theorems of Green and Stokes. Ma 1 b, c is divided into two tracks: analytic and practical. Students will be given information helping them to choose a track at the end of the fall term. There will be a special section or sections of Ma 1 a for those students who, because of their background, require more calculus than is provided in the regular Ma 1 a sequence. These students will not learn series in Ma 1 a and will be required to take Ma 1 d. Instructors: Marx, Katz, Mantovan, Aschbacher, Ni, Kechris.
Ma 1 d. Series. 5 units (2-0-3); second term only. Prerequisite: special section of Ma 1 a. This is a course intended for those students in the special calculus-intensive sections of Ma 1 a who did not have complex numbers, Taylor polynomials, and infinite series during Ma 1 a. It may not be taken by students who have passed the regular Ma 1 a. Instructor: Staff.
---------- END QUOTE ----------
Note: don't freak out over the unit numbers. Caltech's unit scale is different from that of most other schools. 1 unit corresponds to 1 hour of work per week, so a 9 unit course is one that should take 9 hours a week. The numbers in parentheses, such as (4-0-5) break it down by number of hours of lecture, number of hours of lab, and number of hours of outside preparation and homework.
Ma1 does start with a "review of calculus", so you could probably do it without having had calculus in high school if you were really good, but it would be rough.
[1] http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/applying/freshman
[2] http://catalog.caltech.edu/courses/listing/ma.html
[3] http://admissions.caltech.edu/uploads/File/general/FAQapplyi...
Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
#88It doesn't seem efficient, or very useful to aid understanding.
It replaces one operation by many operations. It trades one abstraction by increasing the memory requirements (external memory, in the paper).
At least I had finished the subtraction in my head way before I was reading halfway through the 'new' method, in all examples.
It would be useful if they students could each design their own favourite subtraction algorithm, and compare notes with fellow students, instead of having to memorize 3 or 4 cookie cutter algorithms.
Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
The idea that Common Core prevents students from taking calculus is disputed: http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2014/04/a_sorry_at... Further, a citation to Caltech's admission policy would be handy; I found sources directly disputing your claim (also in the context of Common Core), citing Caltech Math1a to rebut it.
Academic preparation Caltech says you should have [1]: 4 years of math (including calculus) 1 year of physics 1 year of chemistry 3 years of English (4 years recommended) 1 year of U.S. history/government (waived for international students) They really want you to have calculus. From the admissions FAQ [3]: What if my high school does not offer Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses? Many…
It is also apparently helpful if you bring donuts.
Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math
#90I'd never heard of this before, but looking up some of the controversy, I found this article: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/03/07/abou... It actually makes some sense. I'm still skeptical, but it's sounding like it's just a significant departure from the rote memorization methods I grew up with.
Teaching concepts as well as techniques is definitely the way to go. The problem with "Common Core" appears to be that complex procedures have been selected as the way to teach concepts. Taking the problem in the illustration, subtracting 12 from 42, the four-step process is ridiculous. The way an adult would look at it in a real-world situation is to recognize that the 12 neatly coincides with part of the 42. The re…
> The problem with "Common Core" appears to be that complex procedures have been selected as the way to teach concepts.
This really doesn't have anything to do with common core. Different curriculums that the school districts choose to purchase and implement go about achieving the goals of common core quite differently. Everyday Math is mentioned in another comment and is mostly awful. It's pretty widely used though. We are actually moving to a house in my wife's school district this summer so that our son doesn't go to school where we currently live to avoid both Everyday Math and an equally awful reading curriculum.