Parents Should Learn Basic Mathematics Like a Kindergarten Student
If you have a kid in school, you’ve probably noticed that his math homework looks different than yours, which was done an undisclosed number of years ago. And you may have moaned about it: “What crazy steps? It took me a few seconds to answer these equations in Mrs. Winkleman’s fourth grade! “Hey, I’m not here to discuss the value of the current learning approach known as Common Core (although from everything I’ve read and heard from math educators, this is pretty much a huge step in the right direction ). But I can help you come to terms with change.
In response to Nick Douglas’s article “ Do Math in Your Head with These Mental Math Tricks, ” some readers noted that Common Core helps kids to intuitively make these connections using a sense of numbers . If you are like me, a person who has studied mathematics mainly through rote learning, you may be a little confused about what that means. In this case, it is best to start from the very beginning. Commenter noodlesintheface gave parents a sensible suggestion: take the Khan Academy arithmetic program starting with preschool or kindergarten courses.
Noodlesintheface, which is not affiliated with Khan Academy, did just that and informs us via email that the free online program was “surprisingly interesting and fun” and “helped to grasp a lot of mathematical concepts that I couldn’t fully explain in K – 12, but you can still apply the rules and get the right answer. ” For example, a parent writes that the curriculum “focuses on numerical value in a way that I didn’t internalize back in the 80s, such as“ What number is equal to 1 ten + 18 units? “” (Yeah, that’s it. 28.) “Ten frames” – visualizing 10 as a bunch of ten – was also a new concept for face noodles, along with visualizing addition and subtraction along a number line.
Sample question:
Noodlesintheface has taken the entire K-12 math curriculum, but just taking a Pre-K or Kindergarten course will give you a basic understanding of the philosophy behind Common Core math. I tried it, and my first thought was, “Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.” This is by far a better alternative than spending the next 12 years criticizing Common Core on Facebook, as I’ve seen so many moms and dads do with their homework. When solving math problems, you may even want to learn more, or at least be less afraid.
Noodlesintheface tells us that letting my daughter watch the entire process was an unexpected benefit: “I can model good behavior and persistently overcome math difficulties.”