No More Math Wars!

You know that moment when you're reading and you realize someone just "discovered" something that you kind of knew all along was a good idea but somehow it has to be researched to be confirmed. Well that was my experience exactly when I read this article on Monday. http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/article/no-more-math-wars

So upon arriving in my office Monday I see this magazine (Canada Education) on my desk. Usually, I just hock these things into recycling without a second thought (because I'm up to my neck in paper and things to do already) but today against my better judgement I think maybe it's a temporary distraction to all I have to do today, and as I glance at the table of contents I see an article called "No More Math Wars" and so now the distraction has potential because that is a thing I'm thinking about often as a principal and which is a huge priority at my school, and so what a delight it was to hear confirmed what most teachers know intuitively (there is no one best approach to teach math) is actually what the research says as well. 

Briefly, the article highlights the ongoing (and as it says needless battle over how to teach the math curriculum) between discovery based conceptual knowledge (students construct meaning, hands on learning, etc.) instruction, and more traditional (explicit teaching strategies, memorization, etc.) procedural knowledge instruction. You can read the article yourself but it "of course" says you need both equally! One big mistake we have made in math instruction over the past 20 years is we have told teachers (universities and education departments) that thou shall not drill and memorize and practice basic facts - this was akin to medieval torture, or worse it might bore the children! But as the article says, to solve complex math problems which involve higher level critical thinking skills, students need to be able to have quick access in their working memory to basic facts. The reason many students struggle with algebra is not that they don't understand the concept, its that they can't easily recall multiplication facts and then become overwhelmed, and tired with the process and give up.

So parents - and teachers fear not, students need to also have time made in math instruction to practice basic facts along with building conceptual understanding of what they are doing. Parents if you want to help your students in mathematics the best thing you can do is practice multiplication tables on that long drive to the city, hockey, or grandma's house - cause the math wars are over!