Reply to No doing well with Common Core, but we'll with Singapore math

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

I grew up in Russia.  We had a very strong math curriculum and math culture when I was growing up. http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703740004574513870490836470

We did not do any of these tricks.  We had a very strict, very rigorous system.  We were not allowed to use calculators, at all.  No multiple-choice answers EVER. We had to learn to prove all theorems ourselves.  We had to memorize a lot of things.  All the concepts were drilled, drilled, drilled to ensure we had a good foundation before moving on.  I bet most of my Russian friends, after thirty years of not touching algebra or geometry will still be able to recipe Pythagorean theorem and solve a system of linear inequalities.

And no there was no way you would get to 7 by doing 4+4-1.  My math teacher's favorite saying was "You shouldn't scratch a left year with a right hand", meaning that a math problem should be solved the simplest way.

I agree with PP. I don't see the link to critical thinking.

[/quote]

You are saying, "I didn't learn it that way, so teaching it that way is wrong."

Note that neither the Common Core standards nor any specific curriculum (as far as I know) says that you have to solve 3 + 4 as 4 + 4  - 1. However, it is one way to do it. It is not the simplest way (in the sense of the least steps), and it's almost certainly not the way that the child will do it once the child has memorized their math facts. But it is one way to do it. And if you can do it that way, then you understand more about numbers than if you just memorized "3 + 4 = 7".

Also, the Common Core math standards don't say anything about "critical thinking". This is what they are aimed at: adaptive reasoning, strategic competence, conceptual understanding (comprehension of mathematical concepts, operations and relations), procedural fluency (skill in carrying out procedures flexibly, accurately, efficiently and appropriately), and productive disposition (habitual inclination to see mathematics as sensible, useful, and worthwhile, coupled with a belief in diligence and one’s own efficacy).

http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice/[/quote]

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