I was up in the middle of the night trying to figure this one out, NM... and I just couldn't. My brain wasn't working. I taught my daughter grade 10 algebra in grade 7 with this exact same technique. Instead of variables, she got silly pics and was encouraged to use them herself... and she went from thinking of it as math, and to handling them like little puzzles. I didn't give her exponential or higher function stuff - just addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. She was such a smart young lady...
Looks like that dumb-ass new math the Sacramento ninnies... er... NANNIES... foisted on the kids of California. The way we used to do it? OUT THE WINDOW! They use these weird charts and matrix diagrams to create baffling problems from simple +- equations. Show the kid how we learned it, and both the kid and parent get reprimanded. A parent can't even help the kid with homework anymore... Another attempt to separate the impressionable kid from the parents as soon as possible...
I saw an example of common core math awhile back and it is literally far more work, and far more inefficient than classical math, Pete.
If you want to teach kids how to add and subtract in their heads quickly - play darts with them. 501 is a great game to do it with. Once they see how easy it is they will do the same with multiplication and division... and they are away to the races.
Parrot = 25
ReplyDeleteChicken = 5
Crab = 30
I was up in the middle of the night trying to figure this one out, NM... and I just couldn't. My brain wasn't working. I taught my daughter grade 10 algebra in grade 7 with this exact same technique. Instead of variables, she got silly pics and was encouraged to use them herself... and she went from thinking of it as math, and to handling them like little puzzles. I didn't give her exponential or higher function stuff - just addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. She was such a smart young lady...
DeleteLooks like that dumb-ass new math the Sacramento ninnies... er... NANNIES... foisted on the kids of California. The way we used to do it? OUT THE WINDOW! They use these weird charts and matrix diagrams to create baffling problems from simple +- equations. Show the kid how we learned it, and both the kid and parent get reprimanded. A parent can't even help the kid with homework anymore... Another attempt to separate the impressionable kid from the parents as soon as possible...
ReplyDelete...I say this not in jest...
I saw an example of common core math awhile back and it is literally far more work, and far more inefficient than classical math, Pete.
DeleteIf you want to teach kids how to add and subtract in their heads quickly - play darts with them. 501 is a great game to do it with. Once they see how easy it is they will do the same with multiplication and division... and they are away to the races.