Students falling behind on math
Posted by BrianGee, who would have thought that fuzzy math would not work out?
SEATTLE — For the second time in a generation, education officials are rethinking the teaching of math in American schools.
The changes are being driven by students’ lagging performance on international tests and mathematicians’ warnings that more than a decade of so-called reform math — critics call it fuzzy math — has crippled students with its de-emphasizing of basic drills and memorization in favor of allowing children to find their own ways to solve problems.
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Shalimar Backman, who put pressure on officials here by starting a parents group called Where’s the Math?, remembers the moment she became concerned.
“When my oldest child, an A-plus stellar student, was in sixth grade, I realized he had no idea, no idea at all, how to do long division,” Ms. Backman said, “so I went to school and talked to the teacher, who said, ‘We don’t teach long division; it stifles their creativity.’ ”
God forbid we stifle the creativity of our children by making them learn. I bet policy makers think the solution is more government…
The Bush administration, too, has created a panel to study research on teaching math. It is expected to issue recommendations early next year.
Here in Washington, Gov. Chris Gregoire has asked the State Board of Education to develop new math standards by the end of next year to bring teaching in line with international competition, and a year later to choose no more than three curriculums to replace the dozens of teaching methods now in use.
Yep! That should fix everything.
One technique I heard about the other day is integrating writing assignments into math class. I think this is a great idea for a couple of reasons. First, most young people come out of school with no idea how to write technical papers and this will sharpen that essential skill. Second, writing things down helps ingrain the material in your brain, which is critical for math. Math should be reflexive. If you have to think about it then you’re not doing it right. Writing out the methodology used to solve problems helps shift math from a thought process to a reflex.
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November 15th, 2006 at 12:09 am
Favoring theory over rote memorization is the only kind of math. If you can’t solve a problem that is somewhat unique from the material presented, you can’t do math. You can just apply procedure to a predefined problem with unique parameters.
Having said that, it is essential that people go through the mechanics of math like arithmetic before they tackle anything else. My little sister was going over set theory and 1/0 logic problems in her pre-high school math. That’s just looney. Those kids will have no practical understanding of that stuff in 8th grade. They might be able to solve simple problems with ease (logic math is simpler than arithmetic), and those problems have some wonderful applications in computers and control systems, but what does an 8th grader need that stuff for?
November 15th, 2006 at 6:26 am
I think there is room for both theory and rote memorization. I see a difference between math and problem solving. As an engineer I use math as a tool in the problem solving process. Math should be so natural that it does not become part of the problem itself.
I think that the biggest problem with people of our generation (w/ respect to math) is technology. Advanced graphing calculators and computers have been available from day one and consequently most people my age can’t perform even simple math without that assistance.
November 15th, 2006 at 9:22 am
I hear ya, Brian. I tutor people in calculus, and I’m just amazed at people who don’t even have a basic understanding of the order of operations (you multiply before you add, etc.). On more than one occassion, I’ve had to explain people how a graph works (the curve shows you that if you put in this X, you get out this Y).
When you start getting into algebra, my mind becomes blown.
November 15th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
I am horrible at math, but I just wanted to point out that the Times is WAY behind in this story; the Standard had it a couple weeks ago.