MATH ISN’T ADDING UP
Does one plus one equal two? Not necessarily in Alberta’s “discovery” math model. When Alberta Education adopted this concept in 2007, it dismissed the traditional, decades-long way of learning mathematics through memorization and repeated exercises and computations. It thought a better way was to let kids “develop personal strategies to become mathematically literate.”
“Today, the focus of mathematics learning places greater emphasis on understanding and mathematical concepts and applying thinking skills to arrive at an answer,” the government said when it announced the change.
Ten years later, we’re learning how that strategy has utterly failed our kids.
More than 13 per cent of Grade 4 students lack even a basic knowledge of math, up from six per cent in 2011, according to the 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). It also reported a drop from nine per cent to 2.4 per cent of students being ranked at the top level for math, those who could apply math to complex problems and explain their reasoning.
Alberta students used to be at the top of the pack, ahead of Ontario students but behind Quebec. Alberta now ranks significantly behind both and we’re far from top nations which include Japan, Singapore, Northern Ireland and Russia.
The international results paint a bleak picture and one that should be clear to educators. Our scores are going down and have been ever since the province discounted memorization and repetition as “rote learning.” Students today can’t figure out equations because they never learned what seven times nine is.
To borrow a phrase that has become political fodder: math is hard. For many students, it’s not intuitive. It’s not language, it’s not osmosis, it’s not a subject that students can see and feel and understand and interpret in myriad ways. It’s black and white, concrete, with one answer. Why are so many families having to pay out of pocket for tutors so their children can learn what they should be learning in school with their already contributed tax dollars?
“It’s hard to understand why it isn’t clear to (education) ministry officials,” said University of Winnipeg math professor Anna Stokke.
Alberta Education Minister David Eggen is hearing the criticism and his department is reviewing the entire K-12 math curriculum. “We know loud and clear, we’ve heard from parents and students and teachers and professors, that we need to strengthen our curriculum.”
The question remains how that will be done and will it end up being in the best interests of students. We need one plan plus one clear identifiable goal to add up to better results in math.