Core+Math?

by Mr. Peterson**
 * Some Thoughts on Math Instruction

There has been a great deal of discussion about “Core Math” and “Traditional Math” in Nekoosa. I believe there are quite a few misconceptions about our math program and I would like to share my thoughts. Thanks for taking time to consider them.

Core Math is the name of the high school textbook. We do not have Core Math here at the middle school because our textbook is not named Core. We teach the same math concepts that you and I were taught many years ago. Fractions, decimals, and percents have always been a big part of 6th grade math, and they always will be. The math we teach may look a little different in the way we teach it because we are more concerned about understanding math than we were “back in the day”. We did a lot of math back then, but we often didn’t understand it. We just did it. That is a big difference in the way we teach now. This approach isn’t new. I first learned about it over 20 years ago in college when teaching for understanding became a big point of emphasis.

I student taught with a “traditional” type teacher, and we taught math in a very traditional way. You probably know what I mean, “Here is an example, now do 25 more just like it”. I was helping kids to do math, but they did not really understand it. After I got my first teaching job, I started realizing the importance of teaching for understanding. For many years our school district would send teachers to Green Lake for the state math conference. We would learn many new ideas on how kids learn math. I developed many units over the following years that focused on just that, students understanding math. Textbooks were still “traditional”. Most of them included a few sample problems followed by many practice problems. In reality, this is a very simple way to teach math, but many math teachers knew that this was not the best way to help kids understand math. Over the years I have heard a number of parents say that, “I can’t help my kids in math anymore because there are not any examples in the book. I know how to do it, I just need to see an example.” Doing a problem by following someone’s example does not mean that you understand math. The goal in math, as in all subjects, is understanding.

The difference between “traditional” and, what has come to be known as “new” math, is not really the textbook, but the idea of teaching for understanding as opposed to just “doing” math. No matter which book is being used, the difference is more in the teacher than the textbook.

A better name for Core Math it is integrated math. The difference between integrated math and traditional math (the books we had 30 years ago) is the order of what is taught. At the end of the four years of high school math, the same math is covered in both books. We used to have Algebra in 9th grade, Geometry in 10th grade, Algebra 2 in 11th grade, and then Calculus/Trigonometry or maybe a Statistics and Probability class during 12th grade. In the integrated math program, such as Core Math, it is the same math, just at a different time. Algebra and geometry are taught every year in addition to topics in statistics, probability, and discrete mathematics.

In closing, I would ask you to consider a couple of questions,

1. Do we want our students to “do math” or to understand it? We have learned so much about how kids learn math it would be a shame to subject them to the way we were taught when we just did math.

Do we want our students to study algebra only as a freshman and geometry as a sophomore? Or is it OK that they have exposure to some of it each year?

Mr. Peterson

Click here to see an example of teaching for understanding.