Anonymous wrote:Do they accept "I know that 8+2=10 because I have memorized my math facts"?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:both ends of an equal sign have to be equal with or without space. Period.

I'm sorry to tell you that math expressions should be more rigorous and formal than what you say in everyday life.

And yet Singapore Math has expressions like 65 - 10 [fill-in-the-blank] - 2 [fill-in-the-blank] as a mental math strategy for 65-12.

depends what's in the blank

It's perfectly fine to have

65-12 = 65 - 10 - 2 = 55 - 2 = 53


big mess if

65 - 12 = 65 - 10 = 55 - 2 = 53

I won't use that book to teach math.

Anonymous wrote:Do they accept "I know that 8+2=10 because I have memorized my math facts"?

Anonymous wrote:

Another Ph.D. who earns her living from math here -- disregard this PP. If you can't explain the concept, that means you don't really understand the concept. And, as the MCPS-teacher PP says, you don't have to write "3 explanatory sentences". There are lots of different ways to explain it.

Sorry, we're a two Ph. D household and I agree with the earlier poster. This is bad and a perfect example of why the US ranks so low in math compared to other countries. If you have county level education majors who do not understand math writing the math curriculum, you end up with language curriculum not math. They really do not understand the subject and can only translate it in terms that they can comprehend. Its a mess.

At our school in the 3rd grade, the kids are not given the option to use pictures, formulas, or diagrams to explain the answer. The worksheets and assessments ask the student to explain it and gives them several lines (clearing indicating text and sentences). The kicker is that the teacher corrects the spelling, grammar, and punctuation!

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone else's elementary student having trouble with the required narrative explanations in math homework -- e.g., explaining the "strategies" used to solve the problem? DC has no problem getting the right answer but is struggling to put the thinking/reasoning into words. I've suggested just writing it out as DC would explain it to me (which has mixed results) but it's an ongoing issue. Any advice? (Fwiw, DC is a good writer in other subjects.)

Anonymous wrote:You wouldn't say something like "Two times eight is sixteen, plus one is seventeen?" I would.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:both ends of an equal sign have to be equal with or without space. Period.

I'm sorry to tell you that math expressions should be more rigorous and formal than what you say in everyday life.

And yet Singapore Math has expressions like 65 - 10 [fill-in-the-blank] - 2 [fill-in-the-blank] as a mental math strategy for 65-12.

Anonymous wrote:both ends of an equal sign have to be equal with or without space. Period.

I'm sorry to tell you that math expressions should be more rigorous and formal than what you say in everyday life.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This is so true. Thank you for explain it well. I don't like the way math is taught here. Elementary math is the foundation of more complex math, not just simple calculus. Math language should be emphasized more. It's a pain to see sticks, bundles and other objects to be used to teach kids math beyond number 20 and poor math expressions everywhere. I'm not kidding, a random sheet from kid's homework pile has 2*8 = 16 + 1 = 17 as an example to let them exercise addition and multiplication. Isn't it more of a problem to incorrectly use "equal" sign here than not to be able to explain in english why 2*8 = 16? Seriously!

I'm guessing that this was

2*8 = 16 [separating space here] + 1 = 17

Which, actually, is a good way to teach elementary math as a foundation of more complex math.

Anonymous wrote:

This is so true. Thank you for explain it well. I don't like the way math is taught here. Elementary math is the foundation of more complex math, not just simple calculus. Math language should be emphasized more. It's a pain to see sticks, bundles and other objects to be used to teach kids math beyond number 20 and poor math expressions everywhere. I'm not kidding, a random sheet from kid's homework pile has 2*8 = 16 + 1 = 17 as an example to let them exercise addition and multiplication. Isn't it more of a problem to incorrectly use "equal" sign here than not to be able to explain in english why 2*8 = 16? Seriously!

Anonymous wrote:

OK. At our MCPS school (in the US) in 2nd grade, the kids ARE given the option to use pictures, formulas, or diagrams. As the teacher who teaches at MCPS (in the US) says.

Do you disagree with the idea that if you can't explain the concept, you don't understand the concept?

In 1st and 2nd grade, kids were allowed to draw pictures, or diagrams but were discouraged from using formulas. In 3rd grade, they are specifically asked to write an explanation using language and sentences.

I do disagree with the statement that if you can't explain the concept, you don't understand the concept. This is plays out in many, many fields. A great violinist hears, feels, and understands fully the concepts of pitch, harmony, tones etc. This same violinist may not be able to write an essay explaining in sentences how they play so well. A english major or music history major may be able to write a wonderful essay comparing and contrasting or explaining this but can't play a simple tune. An artist may be able to construct beautiful compositions but again is far less successful in translating this into a writing skill to explain what they already know and have learned. There is no value in forcing everything to conform to a language assignment approach.

Equations, numerical values, and symbols are the "language" of math. Proofs and theorems, as well as simple equations, do explain math. There are many ways to go deeper in math at the elementary school level and to show how math is a serious of related interactions.

MCPS's interpretation that understanding problem solving means that you can write essays or explain in English sentences how math works is just plain wrong. You don't approach or teach math the same way you approach language arts. You don't teach math as if you are afraid of it and want to avoid numbers and equations.