Reply to Why is the math so terrible? Can parents do anything?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]When I went to college for Computer Engineering, and ground through all 3 units of Calculus, by the way the culmination was 3-d Calculus, which is really crazy hard.

You just put your head down and churned out numbers and equations, until you could do them in your sleep.

Honestly that taught me more about process and organization than if I did half the work and then wrote down some blah, blah, blah explanation.

[b]You have to understand the theory and application to derive the original formula,[/b] but when you get down to the brass tacks of any engineering discipline it is about the numbers, and knowing how to get to the answer.

Writing a bunch of explanation about how you get the final value in the actual equation is not going to help anyone.  Sometimes it just comes down to good old fashioned hard work. [/quote]

I agree with bolded.  But in order to understand theory and know how to apply them, you have to read the problem, which in most cases, are presented to you in words.  You have to know why xyz theory works for a specific problem.  This is what I think 2.0 math is trying to address. Whether MCPS has done so effectively with their curriculum, I don't know.  But I do know, that at a higher level math, you do have to understand (whether explained verbally or just in your head) why a theory works for xyz problem.

I think the point of having to explain your thinking in 2.0 math is to make the kid think critically and analytically.  I agree, that at some point, you have to be able to do math quickly in your head.  But, I think too  many people, kids and adults included, just do the math because "that is how I learned it".  There is not enough "you do it this way because of xyz."  [/quote]

The problem with common core implementation in general and c2.0 in particular is that explaining math in words is overdone too early and for too simple stuff. Eventually we all need to be able to explain what we are doing. But forcing very young children using words to explain very obvious math is going to turn some children off math. It is also absolutely unfair to those who are more mathy but not verbally advanced kids. [/quote]

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