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The dysfunction of Common Core...
I get the distinct impression that if I were being taught math these days, I'd be doing much worse than I did back in the bad old days (reckoned as "before 'New Math'" but somewhat after 'making impressions in wax tablets').
Consider the following problem, answer, and (apparently) teacher's comment, from a post at IJReview:
Me, I can see the kid's point. On the one hand, that may be so because I never could see the point of explaining to my teacher why addition was commutative, while subtraction was not. It just seemed intuitive to me.
On the other, it may just be that—in my opinion—asking a kid to "make 10 when adding 8 + 5" is a little like asking someone to "determine how much soap to use when making potato salad." (The answer, by the way, is "enough to wash your hands thoroughly before handling food." Isn't that, like, obvious?)
But what really, really kills me is the educator's comment. Read it closely.
What's the result when you "take 2 from 5 and add it to 8"?
Dunno about you, kimosabe, but I get 11, not 10.
Why are we asking kids questions to which teachers apparently have trouble explaining the answers?
Given that the teacher's answer is—let's face it—wrong, I'd say the kid won this one.
Cheers...
P.S. It occurs to me that, if you follow the teacher's attempt to explain how to get the answer, there is an alternative answer—involving subtracting 3 from 8 and adding the result to 5—that is equally valid. Come to think of it, I can also add 8 + 5 to get 13 right off the bat and then subtract 3. Is this abundance of answers a good thing? Maybe later on, but in grade school? I think that had I been exposed to this kind of drivel, I would have very likely shoved it all to the side at the first opportunity and become a math-hater for the rest of my life.
Consider the following problem, answer, and (apparently) teacher's comment, from a post at IJReview:
Me, I can see the kid's point. On the one hand, that may be so because I never could see the point of explaining to my teacher why addition was commutative, while subtraction was not. It just seemed intuitive to me.
On the other, it may just be that—in my opinion—asking a kid to "make 10 when adding 8 + 5" is a little like asking someone to "determine how much soap to use when making potato salad." (The answer, by the way, is "enough to wash your hands thoroughly before handling food." Isn't that, like, obvious?)
But what really, really kills me is the educator's comment. Read it closely.
What's the result when you "take 2 from 5 and add it to 8"?
Dunno about you, kimosabe, but I get 11, not 10.
Why are we asking kids questions to which teachers apparently have trouble explaining the answers?
Given that the teacher's answer is—let's face it—wrong, I'd say the kid won this one.
Cheers...
P.S. It occurs to me that, if you follow the teacher's attempt to explain how to get the answer, there is an alternative answer—involving subtracting 3 from 8 and adding the result to 5—that is equally valid. Come to think of it, I can also add 8 + 5 to get 13 right off the bat and then subtract 3. Is this abundance of answers a good thing? Maybe later on, but in grade school? I think that had I been exposed to this kind of drivel, I would have very likely shoved it all to the side at the first opportunity and become a math-hater for the rest of my life.
no subject
This is not the first thing I've seen where the child's answer is considered wrong... because they actually understand math.
The method the teacher explains here (apart from being wrong) is a worthless exercise in voodoo. Can you imagine, in language arts:
Spell "apple."
Answer: "apple" is spelled applicable, where you take out the letters i through the second l.
Gah.
no subject
no subject
When asked how he did it, the follow responded, "Nothin' easier, mate! I just count the number of legs, and divide by four!"
Cheers...
no subject
"F-S-R-E-D. The 'S' is silent."
Cheers...
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The people creating the common core apparently do not. :(
no subject
Cheers...