M.J. McDermott speaking about the current state of math education

[Pat McCotter]

Math Education: An Inconvenient Truth

[KBCraig]

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

The "what's a cluster?" thing sounds very familiar, and was my reaction the last time I was forced to help with public school math homework: "A. What are they talking about, and, B. Where is the math problem?"

This is what happens when generations of teachers are taught "education" by teachers who have never taught children. The science of pedagogy becomes its own closed society with specialized terminology that has no real meaning in the outside world.

[toowm]

If your local public school uses TERC or Investigations, please talk to parents about their destructive results.

I encourage everyone to use the Saxon math series (2nd or 3rd edition if you can get them) starting at Math 5/4 after multiplication tables are solid.

My 6th grade homeschooled son had the 17th highest score in New Hampshire (out of 354 students) on a competitive 8th grade math test last November.

[MengerFan]

Sure seems to me kids would enjoy mathematics a whole lot more if we weren't teaching it to them backasswards by memorizing silly algorithms but instead to derive such algorithms themselves from first principles.

[KBCraig]

The algorithm is just a tool, as is knowing what order to punch the keys on a calculator (which is an algorithm of its own).

First principles are great, but the Investigations method seems to be trying to get everyone to use intuition. A lot of "intuition" is learned, and a lot of learning comes from repetition of the basics.

[Pat McCotter]

Can you imagine the consternation when some kid brought in an RPN calculator?

[KBCraig]

I watched the video again, and this jumped out at me: the clusters method requires knowing basic multiplication in order to focus in on the right answer, but the entire series of books completely omits multiplication tables.

Alternative methods of learning are great, and can help some students really take off when they "get it", but how are they supposed to "solve by guessing" when they don't know what to guess?

[KBCraig]

http://verydemotivational.com/2010/01/23/demotivational-posters-the-rules-of-math/

[MTPorcupine3]

Can you say www.DeliberateDumbingDown.com ?

Interview: http://tinyurl.com/y948e3n