Checking math

[Anonymous]

A few bad test grades in middle school algebra for both of my DCs forced us to have a conversation about checking your work. I think they thought test taking was a race, because they both had plenty of time when it was over. We didn’t start with tests though, I made them do the problem sets from schoolology on paper and then went back over them with me. When they saw the value, they began to do it more consistently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eventually their grades will suffer and that will motivate them to be careful with their work (or not).

+1. Both of my kids came to this realization at a certain point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As math becomes more involved, the number of careless mistakes on math work are accumulating. As far as I can tell, it’s not the same thing over & over.
Kid absolutely knows the math concepts, but doesn’t seem to really understand what it means to ‘check their work’ & are simply not catching arithmetic or transposition errors.
I’ve suggested a few strategies, but I’m wondering what’s worked for others.

Facing the same issue, I'm now spending 15 to 30 minutes a day drilling my 6th grader in various multi-step problems, identifying the many careless mistakes they make, and pushing them to clean up their sloppy work. Each mistake they make automatically extends their lesson an additional 5 minutes -- which increases the incentive for them to be careful and meticulous.

We have been doing this for several months and have made some progress, but we still have a long way to go. There are still too many careless mistakes that stem from a lack of focus and mental alertness as opposed to a lack of understanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing. I am a math teacher and the only way I can get kids to check their answers is to put a box on the test that gives points for showing the check—and even then often kids will just write “I did it on the calculator” or show a check that doesn’t work and submit it anyway.

It’s a battle I fight all year, every year.

If you find something that works, please share!!

Agree.

I have a child in very accelerated math. Still an issue.

OP here. Also accelerated, but with little to no idea how to study or review/check their work (I think because it’s always come so easy). But the sloppiness is creeping in…

Me again…
And they have no interest in listening to the parents about these things.

Yep. I’m the PP. No advice, just solidarity. Really frusterating (to me), but they are the ones that have to care. And frankly, their math is too advanced for me to go over and check at this point

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing. I am a math teacher and the only way I can get kids to check their answers is to put a box on the test that gives points for showing the check—and even then often kids will just write “I did it on the calculator” or show a check that doesn’t work and submit it anyway.

It’s a battle I fight all year, every year.

If you find something that works, please share!!

Agree.

I have a child in very accelerated math. Still an issue.

OP here. Also accelerated, but with little to no idea how to study or review/check their work (I think because it’s always come so easy). But the sloppiness is creeping in…

How is a student in accelerated math and they don’t know how to review or check their work, a skill that is taught very early on. Such a basic skill and a good way for student to increase their grades.

Not the OP, but a PP with same issue.

They end up in accelerated math because they are very good at math. They test extremely high on standardized tests (where work shown doesn’t matter), and have always done well in math classes. But showing your work in upper el and early middle school isn’t complex or time consuming. Showing your work in Alg I and beyond gets to be tedious, time consuming, and more complex with multiple steps to show. This is when kids (especially if they understand it) want to cut corners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's such a battle.

Just getting the middle schooler to show me their assignment is a battle, to be honest. The teacher even said at back to school night "I won't be able to look over every problem on every problem set so please go over your student's homework with them."

I feel like that is way too much to ask of parents. How does the teachers know parents can even do the math? I was a great student and some of the new methods are confusing to me.

I know my kid could do better with more checking and more help, but it's not a fight I can handle on a regular basis.

And what happens to the student if the parent doesn’t understand the math and can’t check it?

You hire a tutor, use an app, ask someone who does.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP, I don't think the problem is with checking. They need tons of drilling before getting anything done right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP, I don't think the problem is with checking. They need tons of drilling before getting anything done right.

OP here: I don’t think drilling is the answer. As another PP stated, these advanced kids find some of the mult-step processes to be tedious & for some, moving too quickly opens the door to sloppy mistakes. Moving at a slightly slower speed would help, but that’s easier said than done.

For example, if mistakes are transposition errors, the only way to catch them is to re-do the problem or plug the answer into the equation. I suggested both of these strategies & my kid looked at me like I was speaking in tongues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP, I don't think the problem is with checking. They need tons of drilling before getting anything done right.

OP here: I don’t think drilling is the answer. As another PP stated, these advanced kids find some of the mult-step processes to be tedious & for some, moving too quickly opens the door to sloppy mistakes. Moving at a slightly slower speed would help, but that’s easier said than done.

For example, if mistakes are transposition errors, the only way to catch them is to re-do the problem or plug the answer into the equation. I suggested both of these strategies & my kid looked at me like I was speaking in tongues.

It’s not a cheap answer but we do honors Russian School of math and they have emphasized that in a way that gets him to do it more regularly.

[Anonymous]

Use a computer program for homework, with rule that student solves 2 problems correctly for each 1 incorrect.

(Exception: Don't do this for students with severe anxiety who will spend an hour on one problem to make sure it's correct.)

Humans are the smart animals. We use tools to solve problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP, I don't think the problem is with checking. They need tons of drilling before getting anything done right.

OP here: I don’t think drilling is the answer. As another PP stated, these advanced kids find some of the mult-step processes to be tedious & for some, moving too quickly opens the door to sloppy mistakes. Moving at a slightly slower speed would help, but that’s easier said than done.

For example, if mistakes are transposition errors, the only way to catch them is to re-do the problem or plug the answer into the equation. I suggested both of these strategies & my kid looked at me like I was speaking in tongues.

"Check your work" is part of the standard problem solving checklist:
"Read, Plan, Do, Check" and it's various paraphrases.
Eureka workbook does this, and the teachers teach it. Don't let your kid snow you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing. I am a math teacher and the only way I can get kids to check their answers is to put a box on the test that gives points for showing the check—and even then often kids will just write “I did it on the calculator” or show a check that doesn’t work and submit it anyway.

It’s a battle I fight all year, every year.

If you find something that works, please share!!

Agree.

I have a child in very accelerated math. Still an issue.

OP here. Also accelerated, but with little to no idea how to study or review/check their work (I think because it’s always come so easy). But the sloppiness is creeping in…

How is a student in accelerated math and they don’t know how to review or check their work, a skill that is taught very early on. Such a basic skill and a good way for student to increase their grades.

Not the OP, but a PP with same issue.

They end up in accelerated math because they are very good at math. They test extremely high on standardized tests (where work shown doesn’t matter), and have always done well in math classes. But showing your work in upper el and early middle school isn’t complex or time consuming. Showing your work in Alg I and beyond gets to be tedious, time consuming, and more complex with multiple steps to show. This is when kids (especially if they understand it) want to cut corners.

Nah. Showing your work is always appropriate. If they are getting it wrong by cutting corners, they obviously *can't* solve the problems in their head reliably.
Professional mathematicians and engineers show their work.
Having too many redundant problems is bad, but the fix for that is to boycott the extra problems, not do them all without showing work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing. I am a math teacher and the only way I can get kids to check their answers is to put a box on the test that gives points for showing the check—and even then often kids will just write “I did it on the calculator” or show a check that doesn’t work and submit it anyway.

It’s a battle I fight all year, every year.

If you find something that works, please share!!

Agree.

I have a child in very accelerated math. Still an issue.

OP here. Also accelerated, but with little to no idea how to study or review/check their work (I think because it’s always come so easy). But the sloppiness is creeping in…

How is a student in accelerated math and they don’t know how to review or check their work, a skill that is taught very early on. Such a basic skill and a good way for student to increase their grades.

How? Because up til now, everything came intuitively & was always correct. That’s how.
The battle to show work was eventually won when it was required by teachers. But for some reason, in their mind, check work = check to see that work was done. Not actually check to see if the work is correct.

Your child deserves harder challenges.
100% is the worst grade -- it is a waste of a human mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing. I am a math teacher and the only way I can get kids to check their answers is to put a box on the test that gives points for showing the check—and even then often kids will just write “I did it on the calculator” or show a check that doesn’t work and submit it anyway.

It’s a battle I fight all year, every year.

If you find something that works, please share!!

My kids' teacher has an ink stamp that says "Read, Draw, Write, Check"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Use a computer program for homework, with rule that student solves 2 problems correctly for each 1 incorrect.

(Exception: Don't do this for students with severe anxiety who will spend an hour on one problem to make sure it's correct.)

Humans are the smart animals. We use tools to solve problems.

Prompting more problems for each incorrect is a nice way, but it makes me sad that this generation of students learn math by clicking on a screen. Little handwriting or calculation and showing steps on paper. It's why they make mistakes. Parents think it's "checking" while it's really lack of training in the thinking process and familiarity.