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Joined: Apr 2006
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Good article, I thought! Why Is Algebra a Big Deal?
Algebra is the "gatekeeper" that lets people into rewarding careers and keeps others out. Here's how you can help your child succeed in this important class.
By Linda Strean, GreatSchools StaffIt is frequently called the "gatekeeper" subject. It is used by photographers, architects, upholsterers and just about everyone in a high-tech career. It is simply a civil right, says Robert Moses, a veteran of the civil rights movement.
Basic algebra is the first in a sequence of higher-level math classes that students need to succeed. Because many students fail to get a solid math foundation, an alarming number of them are graduating from high school unprepared for either college or work. Many are taking remedial math in college, which makes getting a degree a longer, costlier process than it is for their more prepared classmates. And it means they're less likely to complete a college-level math course. For middle school students and their parents, the message is clear: It's easier to learn the math now than to try to relearn it later.
What Makes Algebra So Important? The first year of algebra is the prerequisite for all higher level math: geometry, algebra II, trigonometry and calculus. According to a study by the ACT, students who take algebra I, geometry, algebra II and one additional high-level math course are much more likely to succeed in college math. (To read this PDF file, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download for free here.)
Algebra is not just for the college-bound. Students headed straight from high school to the work force will need the same math skills as college freshmen, the ACT found. This ACT study looked at occupations that don't require a college degree but pay wages high enough to support a family of four. Researchers found that math and reading skill levels required to work as an electrician, plumber or upholsterer were comparable to those needed to succeed in college.
Algebra is, in short, the gateway to success in the 21st century.
What's more, your child develops abstract reasoning when he makes the transition from concrete arithmetic to the symbolic language of algebra. That helps him become an abstract thinker, a benefit that will carry over into his study of other subjects.
When Should Your Child Take Algebra? Students typically take algebra in the eighth or ninth grade. The benefit of starting the sequence of high-level math classes in eighth grade is that if your child takes the PSAT as a high school sophomore, she will have completed geometry. By the time she's ready to take the SAT or ACT as a high school junior, she will have completed a second year of algebra. Both of these college admissions tests have questions based on algebra II.
There's a growing movement to have students take algebra in seventh grade. That may work well for students who are motivated, mature and prepared to tackle it. But many seventh-graders aren't, math educators say.
"Some kids get turned off of math because they start math too early," says Francis "Skip" Fennell, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the nation's leading organization of math teachers.
Parents, he said, need to "make sure you ask yourself, 'Is this move for you or for your child?'"
Fennell recommends talking to your child's current teacher to help you assess her readiness to advance. The goal is for your child to learn algebra well and keep her engaged in math, not push her through the curriculum as quickly as possible.
How to Evaluate Your Child's Math Program The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has spelled out three math "focal points" for children in each grade, from kindergarten through eighth. Fennell said the council developed this short list because state standards vary widely and some of them include more than a hundred objectives for each grade. While the NCTM wrote these focal points for teachers and other educators, the list also offer parents a way to understand what their children should be focusing on.
"If my child is in Grade 6, I know a focus will be fractions," says Fennell. "That will take up more time than, say, adding whole numbers, which he should know how to do by now."
W. Stephen Wilson is a Johns Hopkins math professor who teaches freshman calculus and is a former senior advisor for mathematics in the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. He also reviewed the states' K-12 math standards for the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, and he has strong opinions about which offer the best guidance. He called California's math standards "the gold standard." Wilson recommends that parents who want to make sure their students are getting prepared for high school and college compare the topics in their students' textbooks to the California standards.
"Odds are, if you can't do that easily then there is something very wrong," he says.
Look for Homework Clues Wilson offers this advice to parents trying to evaluate their students' math instruction:
"If a student isn't bringing home work that requires lots of manipulation and lots of word problems, then there is probably a problem."
Fennell suggests talking to your child and the math teacher about how homework is used. You may learn a lot from the answers if you ask:
� Are homework assignments corrected and returned in a timely way?
� Is homework reviewed in class so students can learn from their mistakes?
� Does the teacher change the pace or direction of his instruction, based on the feedback he gets in homework?
You don't need to be a mathematician to ask good questions about the content of your child's class, Fennell says. "Ask the teacher 'What is the math? Is it a repeat of math that should have already been mastered? When my child finishes this year, will he be ready for high school math?'"
Bill Moore directs the Transition Mathematics Project in Washington state, which is working to better prepare students for the transition to college math. He summed up what middle school students need to get out of math this way:
"Students need to have a very solid foundation of basic procedural skills that really make problem-solving more fluid. There's a fundamental set of stuff that just has to be memorized, and there there's a sense of numbers, a sense of what's a reasonable answer. That's particularly important with the use of calculators. In some cases, in the elementary grades, they've been used as a crutch. Students go straight to the calculator and if the calculator says it's right, then it must be right."
Look at How Calculators Are Used Talk to your child's math teacher about how calculators are used in the classroom. Debate has raged for years over whether students are relying too much on calculators and failing to learn the standard algorithms - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
But there does seem to be general agreement with the view expressed by Fennell: "The calculator is an instructional tool. It should support but not supplant anything. You don't use it for 6 x 7."
October 2006
Get more great tips to keep your child on track! Sign up for our newsletters >
________________________________________
More on GreatSchools.net
� How to Help Your Middle and High School Student With Math
� Study Survival Skills for Middle School and Beyond
� How Much Should I Help With Homework?
� Is Your Child Ready for College Math?
Related Links
� The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' "focal points" detail the three most important math topics for each grade level, from K-8.
� Civil rights activist Robert Moses founded the Algebra Project with the goal of instructing more children in higher level math.
� The American Diploma Project includes 22 states working to prepare every high school graduate for college or work. The project breaks down college readiness skills into four: number sense and numerical operations; algebra; geometry; and data interpretation, statistics and probability, with examples of each.
� Math.com offers a quick refresher for parents who want to help their students with math.
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Joined: May 2007
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Good article. I'll have to show this to my son. He could do easy algebra equations when he was around seven but I think the ability to answer word problems using algebra was what he needed practice on and he is doing more of that this year, just with the little bit of easy algebra in his 8th grade workbook.
I told him that I want him to practice mental math and work on speed before he moves on to algebra. He complains about it and says things like "Mom, just because I walked out in the rain this morning does not make me Rain Man." But he does get faster with practice and he knows it and he feels good about it when he is timed on aaamath.com and he sees that he answered more questions in a certain amount of time than he did the last time he tried it.
I also told him that I became calculator dependent at an early age and I always admired people who were good at quick mental math. My mother was very good at this before she became ill and she didn't use calculators when she was in school.
I do let him use a calculator for some of his work now and I like that he tries to at least estimate the answer mentally before he uses the calculator. I think it helps him avoid mistakes.
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I think things are slowly changing (a little at least) and it's less unusual to take algebra before 8th grade now than a few yrs ago. I never understood why the schools would let kids advance to pre-algebra, then wait wait wait. One DS was ready in 2nd grade but had to wait. Even in 5th the teacher asked the district and they said No, so we did online course at home. It made the world of difference. I still get angry thinking about the waiting.
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Joined: Feb 2009
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This is a little OT, but since I saw the thread I'm curious. Is there something different about the type of thinking required for Algebra vs. regular math? I am NOT a mathy person (OK, so I'm not BAD at math but I'm a perfectionist and therefore never saw myself as GOOD at math! And on a board like this I would certainly not be considered strong--period!). I was MG and in advanced classes but always felt like math was my weaker area. UNTIL I took Algebra. I actually got the math award (for highest math average) the year I took Algebra 1 with a 99 average. And I REALLY liked it. It wasn't the teacher either. I taught myself using the textbook and never, ever spoke a word in class. I just sat at the back and did the homework and read and taught myself the lesson.
Anyway, I know this is a little OT, but are really verbal kids better at algebra? Or was it that I was not good at rote memorization but my thinking skills were stronger? I've always been curious. BTW, this strength did not carry over through all the rest of my math career. I was not as strong in trig, geometry, and calculus (although I did fine in math and got an "A" in Calc 2 in college), but I did LOVE algebra. It always made sense to me, and other math didn't.
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I have read (in Right Brained Children in a Left Brained World, I think) that arithmetic and algebra are very left brained dependent while geometry (and higher?) relies more on the right brain. The point was to make sure you got your right-brained kid through algebra so they can discover the math that is better suited to their strengths.
I hope others can answer your question.
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I like the math sequence at my daughter�s school. I would think that the entire freshman class there took algebra in 8th grade, but only 1 of 100 tested into their advanced geometry course. The rest of the top math quartile, including dd, take advanced algebra I. The remaining students are repeating algebra I.
The advanced algebra I includes more reasoning problems than her previous class and also covers the first half of algebra II. Advanced geometry is next, followed by the second half on algebra II with trig. Even though she is taking algebra I as a freshman, she will still have AP calculus as a senior. This is ideal for her. The repetition of the first semester was valuable reinforcement with more depth, ideal grouping and speed.
Of course, this would not be ideal for our ds and many kids here.
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Joined: Apr 2008
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mom2boys - I read somewhere (I'll see if I can find a link) that kids that are high in VCI (verbal comprehension) do better in Algebra whereas kids that are higher in PRI do better in geometry. Now it didn't mention numbers and of course all is relative but it made sense to me at the time I read it lol.
My DS who is VCI>>PRI is great at critical thinking and intro to algebra concepts but is not quick on the rote memorization. Although I've spent 3days playing just games for division facts/factors/multi facts and he's getting faster already! He thrives on the competition aspect of the game and by playing them often (4games in a row) he's already showing progress!
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Joined: Jun 2008
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When I first took Algebra I solved problems two ways - by substituting numbers until I got the right values then converting them back to symbols - and the normal way.
From what I have read, the very best mathematicians, like Von Neumann, are also verbally gifted and are able to use all parts of their brains to attack a problem.
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Joined: Sep 2007
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Purely anecdotal, but here's my experience:
My strengths are definitely verbal, but I am a visual-verbal person. I didn't realize this until I started reading up about learning styles for my children at the same time as I was writing a novel. I realized that when I write, I see the events and characters in my head very plainly, and then my task is to describe what I see as accurately and descriptively as I can.
In school, I was good at both geometry and algebra, but I enjoyed geometry a lot more because I adored proofs! They were like logic puzzles, and were both visual and verbal!
I'm mostly posting to note that we shouldn't assume verbal kids will prefer algebra. (Not that anyone was...) They certainly might prefer algebra, but then again, not all verbal kids are auditory-sequential learners. There are shades and tones to kids with strong verbal skills.
Kriston
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I consider myself to be a pretty visual-spatial learner, and yet oddly enough I much preferred algebra to geometry. (though maybe it was because my pathetic school hired a bad geometry teacher who had just been fired from another school; a friend and I taught ourselves the entire course the weekend before the regents exam. not that I could be bothered to do so before that...) Algebra in 8th grade was the only time anyone really gave me any special accommodations in school, ever, and it was a chore for my mom - I guess advocating once is better than not at all.
My nephew will take algebra next year in 7th grade, but it's oddly broken up into two courses, so he takes more of it in 8th grade anyway (i.e. I'm not sure whether he ends up a year ahead of the way we did it years ago). However, I was so happy to hear him admiring another middle school kid who gets to go to the high school for math; at least his school sounds flexible.
Tell me what you guys think of this: it appears that in order to do more advanced math class (algebra I in 7th gr) in our local very large and well respected public middle school, one has to gain acceptance to the gifted program for middle school. It appears that a person can apply only for math or only for language or for both, but applying involves testing (cogat), etc. and even writing about what one would contribute to such a class. (I have long hated questions like that - I think they're dumb. How does one even contribute to the experience of others in a math class in the first place.) I suppose it could be that kids are coming from so many different elementary schools (and they start at the middle school in either 6th or 7th grade). But I don't see why a form from the 6th grade math teacher isnt' enough. I can't see an on-line curriculum so I don't know whether there's another option for 7th (or 8th) grade algebra outside of the gifted program, though I'm not sure why there would need to be more than one version of the same course in the same grade. Applying just sounds like a huge unnecessary pain in the neck, i.e. I'm so lazy. Or do you think it sounds like a positive arrangement? Keep out the kids who might slow it down? I guess I'm just not familiar with the idea of a middle school gifted program.
(We have some time before we have to worry about middle school but I'm afraid it's going to creep up faster than I'm prepared for. I had been hoping to do private middle school but with our sixth child on the way, I don't think that's in the cards.)
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