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Old school math vs Common Core

greenmonster

greenmonster

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Ed
Does anyone have a problem with the new Common Core math concepts being taught?
Could it be a reason why our kids are doing poorly in school?

Talk about taking something simple and making it super complicated.
 

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I would have excelled in an environment where accepting multipole pathways to The Answer was endorsed. My mind works in convoluted solution methods, similar to what I see as Common Core concepts.

It should not be taught as an end-all. It is a valuable tool.

While on the subject, if you want to assist your child being prepared for math, I would suggest,

1) Exposure to music, especially the written form. Dealing with eight notes could be helpful in dealing with ratios and fractions in the future.
2) Teach them the short cuts. Magic of # Nine, easy multiplication of the # eleven, etc.
3) Introduce simpler concepts of advanced mathematics at an early age. Ven diagrams are easy if you learn `em as a toddler.
4) Play cards. Our kid was introduced to bridge at an early age. Family card games are invaluable on so many levels.
5) Make it fun.
 
greenmonster said:
Does anyone have a problem with the new Common Core math concepts being taught?
Could it be a reason why our kids are doing poorly in school?

Talk about taking something simple and making it super complicated.
Click to expand...
No.
No.
It's not.
 
show you're work. Did you get the right answer. I'd bump the 87 up to ninety, subtract that from 243 then add 3 to the answer. I I had to do it in my head and not on paper.
 
Not familiar with common core as kid is 40 but the old school of math was just fine.

Sure, many of us have evolved our "in our heads" math over decades but the basics are, well, the basics.
 
People don't all think in one way, which is why teaching in one manner doesn't work for everybody.

The problem with common core is that while it would work for a portion of the population, it won't work for another portion of the population.

I think a better solution would have been to teach the old school method but encourage figuring out other ways of solving the same problem. That's what most of us did, though plenty of teachers discouraged many of us and even punished us when we did it in a different way. Take away the punishment and let students solve it in their own manner even if it's different, as long as they got the correct answer.
 
When we moved to Vandenburg Village, I was started on SMSG
Student Mathematics Study Group, Algebra in the fourth grade.
Easy enough, I kept to math thru Trigonometry, plotting points in 3-D
Didn't know what it was. I lost interest, grades fell.
My big fail, I forgot almost all of it, that stupid "remembering single info", separately
It wasn't until my 20's I found out about engineering books, they contain everything as a reference,
Not required to memorize loose info, all those math equations, & sequence of doing the problem.
Now, I'd prefer multiple choice answers, I'm pretty good @ picking the winner, by feels.
I "remembered" important dates this way too, Had no idea about a "time line" to hold it all.
 
I wonder if this would have helped me, I was never particularly good at math, but I would always do better once I understood why, not just how, things were done.
 
Climber said:
People don't all think in one way, which is why teaching in one manner doesn't work for everybody.

The problem with common core is that while it would work for a portion of the population, it won't work for another portion of the population.

I think a better solution would have been to teach the old school method but encourage figuring out other ways of solving the same problem. That's what most of us did, though plenty of teachers discouraged many of us and even punished us when we did it in a different way. Take away the punishment and let students solve it in their own manner even if it's different, as long as they got the correct answer.
Click to expand...
Your argument works better against “traditional” math teachings. That was only one “way”. It was arguably more restrictive than Common Core because it focused less on concepts. Concepts by definition are more general and offer more “ways”.
 
greenmonster said:
Does anyone have a problem with the new Common Core math concepts being taught?
Could it be a reason why our kids are doing poorly in school?

Talk about taking something simple and making it super complicated.
Click to expand...
The image is disingenuous. If you expanded the first part into a diagram, it’d be just as or more complicated than the second diagram. The algorithm of “borrow the 1” is complex and you do it 4x.
 
greenmonster said:
Could it be a reason why our kids are doing poorly in school?
Click to expand...
My wife has worked at the same elementary school for 28 years. The problem is teacher's don't care anymore. They've been overworked, underpaid and then blamed for the poor results for the past 40 years. The average new teacher now works for 3 or 4 years, and then leaves to take a non-teaching job.
Climber said:
People don't all think in one way, which is why teaching in one manner doesn't work for everybody.
Click to expand...
100%. I wish montessori schools had been around when i was a kid.
 
stangmx13 said:
Your argument works better against “traditional” math teachings. That was only one “way”. It was arguably more restrictive than Common Core because it focused less on concepts. Concepts by definition are more general and offer more “ways”.
Click to expand...
The traditional was the most basic, it was learnable by a higher portion of the population even though it was limited in creativity.
 
I taught middle-school math and science for a few years before I realized that it wasn't for me. I loved the teaching, loved the kids (for the most part). I hated the school administration and hated the parents most of all.

This discussion reminds me of a funny moment I had in one of the... let's call it "remedial" math classes. I explained the quadratic equation, and some of the kids got it, but not all. I explained it a different way, and a few more of the kids got it. I explained it a third way, and by this point pretty much all but one kid understood it.
She complained that she didn't understand it because I kept explaining it differently. I asked her if she understood it the way I explained it the first time. She said no, she didn't. "Would explaining it the same way again have made it clearer?" I asked. "Let's try the first way again." Nope- still no understanding. Trying the second way again, no love. Third way, same result. Finally I explained a fourth way and she finally understood.
I used the day's experience to illustrate to the kids that there is rarely one "right way" to do things, and as long as they find a way that works for them and delivers the correct results, alternative approaches are perfectly valid.
 
Climber said:
The traditional was the most basic, it was learnable by a higher portion of the population even though it was limited in creativity.
Click to expand...
Given the number of ppl in here saying “that’s how I do math in my head” for CommonCore, your opinion about which way is most “basic” seems wrong. Perhaps you only think it’s basic because you understand it. Do you “borrow the 1” or do “243 - 100 + 13” in your head? Which do you think is more common?

It seems kinda silly to teach ppl one way for on paper and then they do it another way in their heads.
 
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