I have been following the common core debate pretty closely. My kids arent yet in school, but by the time they are, Im sure that it will be required learning for them, and I wanted to try and understand it myself before they get there so that I will be able to help them eventually. I think this video explains it pretty well, and I totally get what hes saying. From what I understand, this type of math is basically the way I already do it in my head. I would still have to write down bigger equations and work them out, but for the most part I break things down into tens in my mind anyway. So even though it seems quite a lot more complicated than what I learned in school, I do think it will be useful for kids to be able to think things through and learn how to do it in their heads. Like the example given, 45 x 24. If I did that in my head, Id break it down to 45 x 10 (450), 45 x 10 (450), added together to get 900. Then Id take 45 x 2 (90) and 45 x 2 (90) added together to get 180. 900 + 180 = 1080. Its weird because I was NEVER taught to do that in school... it just came from years of practice and no access to a calculator. I worked out what worked for me. So I guess my point is that even though Ive seen some really badly written example math problems, the actual concept seems like a good way of learning. I just think certain teachers and certain work books have some really stupid math problems that will confuse the kids. Of course, I may totally change my opinion once the kids are in school. ;)
Posted on: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 21:46:54 +0000
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