When Math Professors Attack! | Partnership for Learning

By maureen on 29 Feb | 9 comments

When Math Professors Attack! Saw an interesting article in the P-I today that pits 60 math and science professors from the UW—who signed an open letter—against the state’s new math standards. Apparently, many profs complain that college freshmen can’t do basic math, some instructors are dumbing down their classes and Washington math education is to blame.

But not everyone at the UW agrees. Ginger Warfield, a senior lecturer in UW Math Dept. gave a nice rebuttal to the ivory tower crankies.

Mathematicians may mean well, "but they have no clue how to teach math to children," she said. "They know how to teach it at the collegiate level, but it's quite different teaching a first-grader than teaching a freshman."

Touche.

Topics: Math | Math Curriculum | Universities | Math Teachers |

Comments

Posted: Thu, 04/24/2008 - 3:16pm — John Leahy (not verified)

Math Wars

Another thing the professors are not considering is the fact that none of their current students have had the newer "reform" curriculum since kindergarten. Most elementary schools that adopted the NCTM based curriculum did so in 1998 or later (and many school districts did not adopt reform curriculum). High schools and middle schools did not follow suit, and teacher training in elementary tended to be inadequate. Many teachers just did their own thing and taught the way they learned (focusing on algorithms without the conceptual understanding of number relationships). So asking to go back is not logical, what we would be going back to is exactly what did not work for most people. And they have yet to see the students who may have benefited from a K-12, well implemented NCTM based curriculum such as TERC Investigations.

Posted: Mon, 04/21/2008 - 7:21pm — snaplessutles (not verified)

hi all

The good convenient site is made.

Posted: Wed, 03/05/2008 - 6:07pm — allisonm

the floor, not the ceiling

Of course not. All students need the same basic concepts and skills but that is the floor, not the ceiling. I encourage you to visit our tag cloud for posts, articles and materials on related issue areas.

Posted: Wed, 03/05/2008 - 5:37pm — Dale (not verified)

Are you implying that the

Are you implying that the brightest and most eager to learn should be sacrificed for equities sake? There is too much of this going on now and that is one of the reasons our prisons are full. Anyway, our son's Mom carried her folding lawn chair into their classrooms and while sitting quietly in the back saw what was happening and she soon enrolled them in a very small non-government learning environment where they obtained three times the education for one third of the cost of the government school.

Posted: Tue, 03/04/2008 - 5:23pm — allisonm

Balance is key

It's great that your kids learned and loved math at an early age. Positive parental involvement is key to a child's education, no matter what the subject. But unfortunately, not all children have that support or opportunity. Many do need to learn, re-learn or just engage in math in a way that best works for them in school. So while yes, all kids should know the same basic concepts and skills, it's important to also recognize that all kids learn differently and that a balanced education (both basic skills and conceptual context) is needed.

Posted: Tue, 03/04/2008 - 1:32am — Dale (not verified)

Math

I, my sons, and most of the neighborhood children could add and subtract in different number systems *before* they went to Kindergarten. We would exercise our learnings in the back yard as everyone helped me prepare our winter firewood. Unfortunately they were way ahead of the other children when they got in school so had to be dumbed down and bored stiff with some of them getting into so much trouble the principal would spank them with the wooden paddle he kept in his office. Homeschoolers and other self-directed learners do not have to be *taught* to learn and love math. They learn it when they want to. Dale

Posted: Fri, 02/29/2008 - 6:06pm — Matthew K. Tabor (not verified)

You characterized her

You characterized her comment as a "nice rebuttal." Rebuttals aren't observations, they're counters in a debate.

Posted: Fri, 02/29/2008 - 2:49pm — maureen

An observation, not an argument...

Not trying to make an argument, so much as an observation on the back-and-forth nature of this debate that so desperately needs balance and consensus. But we've debated this issue ad nauseum in the past and encourage you to read our numerous posts on it.

Posted: Fri, 02/29/2008 - 2:32pm — Matthew K. Tabor (not verified)

Has the quality of debate in

Has the quality of debate in education fallen so far that someone saying, "Nuh-uh! It's DIFFERENT!" suffices as an argument?