Math Education: An Inconvenient Truth

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RadioPatrol

Guest
:coffee:


Having problems helping your kids solve map problems ....




:jameo:



Funny thing is I, while I was taught the "Old School" methods ... I sometimes break math problems down, like 1st shown with the multiplication ......

biggest thing is, I tried helping my (now) 13 old qwith math a couple yrs ago ..... and like a new version of windows, all the math "TERMS" had changed ...


Authors of "Everyday Math" do not beleive it is worth students time and effort to fully develop highly efficient paper and pencil algorithms for all possible Whole-Number, Fraction, and Decimal Division Problems. Mastery of the Intricacies of such algorithms is a huge endeavor, one that experience tells us is doomed to failure for many students. It is simple counter productive to invest many hours of precious class time on such algorithms. The mathematical payoff it not worth the cost, particularly because the quotients can be found quickly and accurately with a calculator.
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:gossip:
 
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johnycarcinogen

johnycarcinogen

New Member
Authors of "Everyday Math" do not beleive it is worth students time and effort to fully develop highly efficient paper and pencil algorithms for all possible Whole-Number, Fraction, and Decimal Division Problems. Mastery of the Intricacies of such algorithms is a huge endeavor, one that experience tells us is doomed to failure for many students. It is simply counter productive to invest many hours of precious class time on such algorithms. The mathematical payoff it not worth the cost, particularly because the quotients can be found quickly and accurately with a calculator.
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It is much more important to spend the majority of students class time learning to bubble in a scantron sheet. Who cares if they can't do math or read and write properly?
 
glhs837

glhs837

Power with Control
Ive been railing aginst Terc for years, ever since I was first exposed to it when my daughter was in elementary school. I'm no mathemtician, but I know enough that intuitive solutions wont happen without a solid grounding in the basics. I was a victim of the "New Math" and have avoided math my whole life. Now, I'm taking the courses towards an engineering degree, and its a tough slog.

This TERC system was developed years ago, CA was the first to field it, as I recall, and it was only thrown out after a revolution amongst Californias college level math instructors, becuase they were getting a new generation of kids who couldn't do basic math. Heres a list of reviews.......

Reviews of TERC: Investigations in Number, Data, and Space

Amazing how the educational program buying system works, every time this program gets in, it sticks long enough for the long term results to show how badly it does the children, and gets thrown the hell out. But those failures never stop some other place from picking it up.

For those who dont know, a "supplemented" form of Terc is what St Marys, and I think the rest of Md uses. Better to just teach math, using the "supplements", than waste time, money, and effort with this horrible system.
 
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R

RadioPatrol

Guest
glhs837 said:
This TERC system was developed years ago, CA was the first to field it, as I recall, and it was only thrown out after a revolution amongst Californias college level math instructors, because they were getting a new generation of kids who couldn't do basic math. Heres a list of reviews.......
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Of course where else would such a brain dead solution to teaching be started .... except by the Socialists of Cali ...:whistle:
 
BOP

BOP

Well-Known Member
glhs837 said:
Ive been railing aginst Terc for years, ever since I was first exposed to it when my daughter was in elementary school. I'm no mathemtician, but I know enough that intuitive solutions wont happen without a solid grounding in the basics. I was a victim of the "New Math" and have avoided math my whole life. Now, I'm taking the courses towards an engineering degree, and its a tough slog.
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I was a liberal arts major, primarily because I can't do math. I, too, was victimized by the "new math (remember Tom Lehrer's diddy about the new math?)." That, and an old fossil of a math teacher who had absolutely no patience for students who wanted to know "why?".
 
BOP

BOP

Well-Known Member
RadioPatrol said:
Of course where else would such a brain dead solution to teaching be started .... except by the Socialists of Cali ...:whistle:
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Don't blame Californians for something that started in Taxechussetts. Read the link: "Investigations in Number, Data, and Space is a K-5 curriculum developed by TERC Inc., Cambridge, MA...."

Oh, and don't forget to take a look at Maryland schools, who bought into it like broke-back fishing (hook, line, and sinker) even after CA rejected it. That's genius, that is.
 
R

RadioPatrol

Guest
BOP said:
Don't blame Californians for something that started in Taxechussetts. Read the link: "Investigations in Number, Data, and Space is a K-5 curriculum developed by TERC Inc., Cambridge, MA...."

Oh, and don't forget to take a look at Maryland schools, who bought into it like broke-back fishing (hook, line, and sinker) even after CA rejected it. That's genius, that is.
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my jeopardy answer would have been:

"What is California Alex" ...........

figuring the left coast would have been the 1st to embrace this, even though they have now dumped it
 
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