U.S. students are being taught to memorize math formulas, instead of understanding them, which has led to confusion about what the equal sign means, a new study says.
Researchers at Texas A&M University say about 70% of students in Grade 6 in the U.S. "exhibit misconceptions" about the equal sign, while "nearly none of the international students in Korea and China" have this problem.
Co-author of the study, Robert Capraro, gives an example of the math equation: 4+3+2=( )+2.
U.S. students are being taught to memorize math formulas, instead of understanding them, which has led to confusion about what the equal sign means, a new study says.
Researchers at Texas A&M University say about 70% of students in Grade 6 in the U.S. "exhibit misconceptions" about the equal sign, while "nearly none of the international students in Korea and China" have this problem.
Co-author of the study, Robert Capraro, gives an example of the math equation: 4+3+2=( )+2.
god damn america!
god damn america!
god damn america!
This is a direct result of the foolish idea that all students are capable and intelligent. This is simply not the case. Some students are just stupid, and should be treated as such. These foolish teaching methods are to blame for the ignorance of todays children. We have to abandon the idea that all children are equally intelligent. Some kids are just stupid. Everyone knows this.
Marginally-relevant, but what the hell.Have you seen the methods they're trying to teach elementary kids how to do math? Instead of teaching them how to do it normally (which is apparently too hard), they're teaching them all sorts of tricks. These kids have no concept of what they're actually trying to accomplish. Its no wonder they don't know what an equal sign means.
Can we create a separate nation for the promising ones then?This is another reason why we shouldn't be spending money on stupid kids or special education kids. America is in a crisis. We need to spend more money on the mosts promising students and less money on students who are going to fail anyways.
This is another reason why we shouldn't be spending money on stupid kids or special education kids. America is in a crisis. We need to spend more money on the mosts promising students and less money on students who are going to fail anyways.
Marginally-relevant, but what the hell.
Math is a language, and a very orderly one at that.
It can't be taught with shortcuts. Kids: Sit down, shut up, pay attention, and learn this stuff goddamit.
Leros - what kind of tricks are they being shown? I can just think back to my math education and....well, I've only really got one line of exposure to math education. As best as I can remember, I was taught what amounts to building blocks - concepts that could be built on later. We did have some memorization of course, things like basic addition and subtraction. We'd have some timed test each week with simple problems like 5+9 or 8*5, that sort of thing, so that we'd know those basics, in preparation for things like long division.
I'm almost scared to ask what they're even being taught now if the "old" methods were allegedly too hard. (I'd also be interested to see how it's taught in places like Singapore, Japan, or other nations which make our math students look like chimps stacking numbered blocks.)