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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

I had this exact same issue with my kids' FCPS math teachers.  They teach estimation in a really stupid, rigid manner.  It's 1000x more correct to say that 854 rounds to 850 and 349 rounds to 350.  850-350 = 500.   My kid more or less got this problem wrong, and I got into it with the teacher:  Estimate: 3.5 + 4.5.   Kid said 8.  Teacher said 9.  The teacher was completely intractable too.  I eventually had to tell my kids exactly what the teacher wanted them to do, but also why it's mathematically stupid.

Teachers, this is exactly why parents have no respect at all for your intelligence.[/quote]

That one is easy.  Your kid is not estimating.  And you know it.[/quote]

:roll: Anyone with an iota of math sense would understand that to get an accurate estimate for 3.5+4.5, you'd need to round one of them up and one of them down.  Anyway, that's beside the point.  The entire point of estimating is to get a quick ballpark figure when it would otherwise be more onerous to do the full computation.  Asking kids to estimate things that they can instantly solve in their heads is an abuse of the entire concept of estimation.  It's also absurd to ask them to completely throw common sense out the window and instead follow rigid rules.  It's beyond dumb to say that 3.4 + 3.6 estimates to 7, but 3.5+3.5 estimates to 8, especially since the smart kids would instantly understand that both equal 7.

I know that the teachers don't have much choice in what they teach and how they teach it.  The problem is that the FCPS math program of studies really abuses the entire concept of estimation.  OP, you'll just have to teach your kids to blindly follow the algorithm that the teacher wants for estimation. [/quote]

Agree with all this, except for the "blindly" part. At this point I'm teaching him not to do whatever the teacher says without thinking about it first. So if he doesn't understand or agree with something, I'm encouraging him to ask questions at school, (and if he is still not satisfied, to keep asking us at home until he feels something makes sense). I don't think mimicking the teacher would be a great idea for long term development, as that is big problem in higher levels (middle and high school). Questioning things and asking why is probably the most valuable skill in my opinion. That said, I agree that I don't want him to cause conflict or interrupt just for the sake of doubting his teacher or showing off or whatever, so I told him to sometimes "go with the flow" even though he knows something may not be correct.

In any case, I don't have any proof that this was even a teacher issue, since the question came from an automated assessment. I don't think it's even worth bringing it up with the teacher. But it does now pique my curiosity a bit though as to how they're learning in the class; I may have to review some of the math vids to see if things are generally ok.[/quote]

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