Math has gone through a lot of phases. In the 1960s a lot of children received lessons in advanced topics to compete with Russian engineers later in life. Fast forward to today, and a whole new kind of “new math” has emerged that could be considered tricky.
New Math goes by a couple of other names, including “reform math” and “inquiry-based math,” and is a revolutionary change from how students have been taught for hundreds of years. It’s still based in global competition, but this time it makes a lot more sense.
How Things Used to Be
For generation after generation, schools taught children by way of what was called rote memorization. You may have reviewed something like the multiplication tables with the rest of your class, as one, in a monotone. The idea was to simply drill the information into your brain until it would never come out, whether you understood what it was for or not. Understanding and creativity never even entered the mix. However, this method of math instruction has led the US to a disgraceful place on the global standardized testing stage.
How Math is Taught Now
Nowadays, math is being taught in almost every school in the country to be more accessible to different learning styles. As well, math is being taught so that students can find several different ways to do the same math problem. While addition or subtraction still work the same way, their interactions are being expressed in more complex ways. The objective is to get kids to think about math as something interesting, and as something that has practical uses.
For example, a story problem might revolve around figuring out what percentage of the global population lives in Chile. Students are expected to deduce that you need to divide the number of people in Chile by the total number of people in the world to find this answer. This is a lot more relevant than the worksheets covered with numbers that children used to use.
How You Can Participate
The theory behind the new methods of math instruction are very sound, and they couldn’t have come at a better time. But there are a lot of different ways to teach math, and every school works differently. So the first thing you need to do is ask your children’s teachers what method they use, and then learn the relevant terms and how it works. Once you do, you’ll be able to help your children with their homework again.
About the Author: Nichol Linebrink has two children in elementary school and has had to hire math tutors to help her kids understand the concepts. As a parent, she recommends asking your school to run an information session for parents so that they aren’t out of the loop in terms of their child’s education.
Credits: Photo courtesy of Aleksandar Milosevic.