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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 6,145
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Posts: 6,145 |
Kriston
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 683
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Posts: 683 |
I have two kids who are "quantitatively gifted." They both do MI one year above grade level in a gifted program. Our school is using the second version of MI and also drills for memorizing basic math facts. For DD10, MI is boring and repetitive. For DD8 who is dyslexic, MI is very word intensive. She has had issues with "explaining or showing her work." She can look at a problem and know the answer. Then we have to go back and do excruciating busy work to draw number lines or sticks and dots that don't honestly reflect how she got the answer. Even worse she has to write sentences like, I know that 49 is near 50 and I know 22 is near 20, so 49-22 is about 30. She hates this since she can look at it and know that the answer is 27. Also, MI won't let them use column addition in the early grades so, my DD is not allowed to use a method that makes sense to her. For gifted dyslexics, MI is a nightmare.
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Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,299
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Wow! The part about teachers figuring the area of a rectangle floored me. I'll continue my "supplementary informal �home schooling' of children."
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 6,145
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 6,145 |
It does reinforce the notion that problem-solving and thinking skills may be getting short shrift in some places, if not generally speaking. And Inky, the teachers not knowing how to figure area was pretty horrifying to me, too! I'd really hope for better everywhere, no exceptions. 
Kriston
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Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 1,898
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Posts: 1,898 |
And Inky, the teachers not knowing how to figure area was pretty horrifying to me, too! I'd really hope for better everywhere, no exceptions. I looked up the original note (in Notices of the AMS 2005 Feb) that had this, because I found it so horrifying. Turns out that she was asking for the area of an x by y rectangle. Kids are supposed to have a "not ready for algebra" stage in which they find things harder when put in those terms than when given actual numbers, aren't they (though I can't say I ever observed such a stage with DS!)? So maybe that was really the issue for these teachers. But even so...
Email: my username, followed by 2, at google's mail
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 6,145
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Posts: 6,145 |
Kids, not adults. I'd like to hope that all college-educated teachers know how to find area, even with variables instead of numbers.
It's very disappointing.
Kriston
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Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,299
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I looked up the original note (in Notices of the AMS 2005 Feb) that had this, because I found it so horrifying. You got me interested in reading it too and I was glad I did. Here's the link if anyone else is interested and I pulled out some other interesting parts: http://www.ams.org/notices/200502/fea-kenschaft.pdfHowever, the most common answer
(by far) I definitely did not plant; it came as
a total surprise to me. It was, �Teach mathematics
better to all American children. The way it is now,
if children don�t learn mathematics at home, they
don�t learn it at all, so any ethnic group that is underrepresented
in mathematics will remain so until
children are taught mathematics better in elementary
school.� How much are our social problems due to our
not challenging children enough? Life can be boring
if you just tread water intellectually. How much
do humans need intellectual challenge? How much
would providing an excellent mathematics education
for our elementary school teachers help mitigate
our drug and crime problems? This change
of understanding on the part of decision-makers
and the public will not be easy, especially since
many harbor deep math anxiety due to their own
poor education and are threatened by the thought
that others might learn it easily�and/or are reluctant
to �inflict� on innocent children the �burden�
of learning mathematics well.
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