| Topic: |
Sociology > Education |
| User: |
"Dom" |
| Date: |
24 Sep 2007 08:31:06 AM |
| Object: |
What's the right formula for teaching kids math? |
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/571082,2_9_AU23_MATH_S1.article#
What's the right formula for teaching kids math?
September 23, 2007
By JUSTINA WANG STAFF WRITER
Earlier this month, a group of parents marched into the Oswego School
Board meeting with a petition demanding that their children learn math
the way they did: worksheets with addition problems, teachers
scribbling formulas on chalkboards.
It's been more than a decade since school districts across the nation
ditched traditional arithmetic programs, and some 300 Oswego parents
say they're sick of multiplication that involves rectangles and
diagonal lines, children "discovering" math through games, and a
philosophy that says if students don't pick up on a concept now,
they'll just learn it when the lesson comes up again.
"We are sending our children to junior high unprepared," said Laurie
Pasteris, the mother of two and a substitute teacher. "They are using
their fingers when adding and subtracting."
A handful of local elementary schools, including those in Plano and
Sandwich, have stuck with more traditional textbooks with units on
basic skills like addition and subtraction. But over the last decade,
most have switched to so-called "reform math" programs that focus on
teamwork and talking about concepts.
At least seven area districts and 100 statewide use "Everyday Math," a
program developed by researchers at the University of Chicago and now
one of the most widely used in American elementary schools. West
Aurora and Somonauk use a similar program, Saxon Math, which was once
considered traditional but now focuses on "hands-on activities" and
"mathematical conversations."
Schools cite success
Almost uniformly, Fox Valley school administrators using reform math
point to state test scores that have climbed every year since the
districts started the new program.
In East Aurora, for example, the percentage of fifth-graders passing
the state math test jumped from 55 percent in 2002, the year the
district adopted Everyday Math, to 78 percent last year.
"It's a wonderful program," said Christie Aird, the district's
director of elementary education programs. "It's very hands-on. ... It
causes kids to really think."
None of the other districts reported any mass protest against the
programs, though most administrators said parents have always raised
concerns.
School officials argue that some are simply uncomfortable because
they're not used to seeing math taught this way. Displeased parents
say they see the results at home, and their children are simply
confused.
This year, the Oswego School District's elementary math curriculum is
up for review, and as administrators decide whether to keep the
program, a decades-old debate is resurfacing.
'More words than numbers'
In an Everyday Math workbook used by second-graders, a page of
problems has a hodgepodge of questions: one that requires division,
two on fractions, instructions to measure a triangle, a picture of a
clock that asks students to draw the hour and minute hands, and a task
on converting coins into dollars.
On a page in a workbook used by fourth-graders, several questions on
distance are followed by: "If you could travel all over the world for
a whole year, what information would you need in order to plan your
trip?" and "To which country would you most like to travel in your
lifetime?"
"There's more words than numbers in there," said Pasteris, who
launched the Oswego campaign against Everyday Math.
Once a full-time teacher at Oswego's East View Elementary, Pasteris
taught Everyday Math in her classroom shortly after the district
adopted it in the mid-1990s. At first she was excited about the "cool
ideas."
But she began to feel like she was "bombarding" the children, who
would be sent home with an assignment to measure their living room
furniture, then come to school the next day to discuss ways to do
double-digit addition. There were no clear lessons, and different math
concepts swirled in and out of games and tasks so quickly that the
kids never seemed to really master anything, she said.
"At times, I could see there was such a confusion," said Pasteris, who
withdrew her fifth-grade daughter from Oswego schools this year and
sent her to Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Aurora to learn math
the traditional way.
'Can really argue with data'
In 1994, the Oswego School District was one of the first in the area
to adopt Everyday Mathematics, joining an emerging national trend. St.
Charles, Kaneland, Hinckley-Big Rock, Indian Prairie, Batavia and East
Aurora were among those that followed.
At the time, Oswego math scores were sliding and teachers would give
lessons by lecturing, showing an example and handing out a worksheet,
said district math coordinator Carla Wood.
"There was no interaction, no talking about how to solve things," she
said.
According to many district administrators, the first years
implementing reform math were shaky at best. But kids needed a
curriculum that "infuses more problem solving and critical thinking,"
said Marsha Hollis Golden, assistant superintendent of curriculum and
instruction.
Now, a teacher giving a lesson on money talks with the students on
things they purchase, has the students solve problems with partners,
probes children on why they chose a certain strategy.
When the curriculum was up for review seven years ago, Oswego school
officials deemed the program such a success they decided to keep it
for another seven years. State test scores have continued to climb,
and more than 92 percent of fifth-graders passed math exams this year,
Hollis Golden said.
"You can't really argue with data," said Michelle Fitzgerald, math
coordinator for the St. Charles School District, where more than 95
percent of fifth-graders passed 2006 math tests. "There are always
concerns, because (parents say), 'This is the way they were taught;
this is the way it should be done.' But best practices show we need to
have our kids in cooperative groups, talking about math."
'A very difficult series'
Billed as one of the most rigorous elementary math programs, Everyday
Math has come with its share of challenges.
"It's a very difficult series to teach," said Allan Zollman, associate
professor of math at Northern Illinois University. Because the
curriculum is unlike any teachers have taught before, many have
trouble fielding parents' questions, he said.
In the Oswego School District, all teachers were required to undergo a
retraining course three years ago after administrators found that many
weren't using the "games" in the program that teach basic math skills.
In East Aurora and St. Charles, some teachers are still supplementing
classes with their own books and lessons on the basics.
Oswego parent Brian Beyer, who's also been advocating against Everyday
Math, said he's had to hire a private tutor to meet with his fifth-
grade daughter once a week just so she can catch up.
Everyday Math was fine for his older son, who's always been a high-
achieving student, but for average pupils he believes "the concepts
are so far out there."
'Different philosophies'
Over the last five years, state test scores have shown no trends of
improving more rapidly or slowly in area schools that use traditional
programs and those that turn to reform math.
Administrators in many districts said parents have become more
accepting of the new approach over the years. Zollman said there are
even educators who argue that Everyday Math is not "true" reform math
and has too many traditional basics.
Whatever the case, he said, the real test is how well teachers, not
programs, teach math.
"If the teacher doesn't believe in the curriculum, it doesn't make any
difference if there's a new curriculum or a traditional one," he said.
"There are some different philosophies ... but everyone wants kids to
do fractions, everyone wants kids to do multiplication."
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| User: "Herman Rubin" |
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| Title: Re: What's the right formula for teaching kids math? |
29 Sep 2007 09:17:20 PM |
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In article <1190640666.063792.268330@w3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com>,
Dom <DRosa@teikyopost.edu> wrote:
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/571082,2_9_AU23_MATH_S1.article#
What's the right formula for teaching kids math?
September 23, 2007
By JUSTINA WANG STAFF WRITER
................
"If the teacher doesn't believe in the curriculum, it doesn't make any
difference if there's a new curriculum or a traditional one," he said.
"There are some different philosophies ... but everyone wants kids to
do fractions, everyone wants kids to do multiplication."
Those who understand mathematics will not want their
children not to be able to do computations, but they will
be more concerned that their children know what it means.
It is not that important that children memorize the tables,
if they can by any correct means deduce the answers. As
for fractions, they should definitely not be taught without
algebraic notation, or they are very unlikely to understand
what the computations mean.
Learning arithmetic rules without understanding makes
understanding later more difficult, and also subject
to opposition. "I know how to do arithmetic; why do
I need to know `what it means'." This includes the
present teachers, including high school teachers of
mathematics.
--
This address is for information only. I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University
hrubin@stat.purdue.edu Phone: (765)494-6054 FAX: (765)494-0558
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