{"id":239768,"date":"2023-04-26T03:09:30","date_gmt":"2023-04-26T03:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buoyantbloomer.com\/?p=239768"},"modified":"2023-07-26T03:06:08","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T03:06:08","slug":"new-math","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buoyantbloomer.com\/new-math\/","title":{"rendered":"How the principles of new math hurts our kids – and what to do instead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Listen up parents who are scared of math: new math happened while you were adulting and just like with the move to balanced literac<\/a>y, you are going to have homework to do with your kids because of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It never fails to astound me how every couple of decades, the US adopts a \u201cnew\u201d way of teaching that messes with the science of learning and dooms a generation of students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with the debacle over the science of reading, the US inexplicably took a turn towards unscientific math instruction<\/a> aka \u201cnew math\u201d starting in 1995. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the authors of the study note: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This change assumed the brain could reason in mathematics without relying on memorized knowledge. Scientists who study the brain have recently verified this assumption was mistaken. Due to stringent limitations in working memory (where the brain solves problems), mathematical problem-solving of any complexity requires applying well-memorized facts and procedures. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are some good aspect of new math, chief among them, the drive to give kids number strategies and a deeper sense of numbers (instead of just rote memorization). But the issue with the way we are teaching new math is the uneven quality of instruction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While you were away…<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For many parents with young kids today, they will likely have attended school in the 80s and early 90s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, this is what happened with new math:<\/p>\n\n\n\n