This recent post shared on the Reason Foundation blog highlighted a math lesson that some early grade students might encounter when learning to add.
Yes, this break down of addition might be a bit more complicated than counting on your fingers, or rote memorization. (Seriously, do you actually REMEMBER anything you memorized in school? Think back to 9th grade trigonometry. Maybe you’ve got the Pythagorean theorem…but what about proofs?)
This technique for learning math is common sense because it’s the way we do it in the real world. How many of you tip? (I’m hopeful all of you do. Regardless of how you feel about tipping, your service workers are attempting to make a living wage and there’s no reason you should punish them. But I digress, another story for another time.) Most people, unless they whip out their calculator, do a fancy calculation where they break down the 15 or 20 percent tip into 10 percent sections. The same principal is applied when you're shopping and something is 35 percent off. We break down the 35 percent into more manageable pieces and add them together.
For those of you who went on to higher math levels and can calculate the tip by just looking at your bill, or determining how much that oh-so-adorable leather inset sweater that will look absolutely perfect with coated skinnies and lace-up booties costs on clearance, it's not because of rote memorization. It's because you understand how the numbers work together, fluidly.
I’ll admit, I wasn’t a stellar math student. Did I make good grades in math? Yes, but I had to put in a lot more effort and homework time to do well. Math didn’t come to me easily like reading comprehension, writing or science. Interestingly enough, I found that if I really understood the concepts at the core, the math was easy. If I knew the relationship of the numbers, especially when tackling word problems, I could recognize if the calculation result didn’t look quite right, and quickly identify the mistake.
In fact, I do basic addition and division nearly every day while I’m working out at my local CrossFit affiliate. Loading a barbell with weights requires some basic math skills, and when I load the bar, I do it exactly like the teacher in the lesson above does. I shuffle around the numbers so they are easier to work with. Dealing in 2.5 pound plates can get a bit tricky.
Anecdotal evidence isn’t the best evidence, and just because it works for me doesn’t mean it works the same way for every student. However, making students show their work and communicate clearly their answer, as shown in the video, not only teaches students how to add, it also contributes to their understanding in other subject areas.
Let’s examine for a moment what the purpose of educating our students is. Taxpayers shell out billion of dollars each year to fund public education so our students can be ready to have a successful career. While you’re putting in your hours at your 9-5 (don’t worry I’m not under any disillusionment that you only work 9-5) do you split up basic skills? Or are you required to seamlessly transition between math, science, reading and writing all at the same time?
The point is, while it might take a few more minutes to arrive at the answer, learning basic math this way will save students’ time in the future as they are presented with more difficult problems. They won’t be required to memorize hundreds of number combinations just to have the right answers. This is an efficient and effective way to learn number crunching, while also teaching students to express themselves using other skills. Dare I say, Common Core is common sense?
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