What I'd like to see is a teaching method that introduces different ways to get to the result, and then let's kids figure out which one works best for them (based on their strengths, be they working memory, processing speed, or whatever) depending on the context.
Singapore Math (Primary Mathematics) does this.
I :heart: Singapore's Primary Maths. Love-love-love.
I would have to say that my DD, after Primary Mathematics 1a through 3a... COASTED through mathematics through pre-algebra. She seriously didn't really seem to be learning anything
new during that two years, which is terribly sad to me.
I really thought that even this piece kind of missed the fundamental thing that I object to in progressive math pedagogy-- that there are, in fact, disciplines in which being
right actually.. er... MATTERS.
The method of getting there that yields the correct answer the greatest percentage of the time for an individual seems to me to be the goal of basic mathematics instruction. I definitely do NOT see that happening in this rigid but strangely stupid approach (as in things like EDM).
Students are very definitely NOT encouraged to "explore" for themselves. Nor are they allowed to use more elegant/advanced methodology any more than before. Less, I'd argue.
