More fractions and times tables for K-4 students

Proposed math curriculum puts emphasis on rote learning

A new proposed Alberta math curriculum would have young children memorizing more times tables earlier, tackle basic fractions in Grade 1 and put more emphasis on working with money.

The newly-posted draft curriculum for students from kindergarten to Grade 4, which is not yet finalized, includes more lessons about time and calendars, and proposes youngsters spend more time flipping and moving two- and three-dimensional objects.

Welcoming the potential changes is one parent who has lobbied the government for years to put more emphasis on rote learning and traditional calculation methods, such as stacking numbers for addition and subtraction.

“I’m actually feeling very encouraged by the draft curriculum here,” said Dr. Nhung Tran-Davies, a parent of three children and a Calmar family doctor.

“They’re not shy of suggesting memorization, so that’s very good.”

Alberta is in the midst of revamping its K-12 school curriculum, rewriting all subjects in all grades in both English and French at once for the first time. More than 400 teachers, professors, curriculum experts and others are first tackling what children in early grades should learn, in what order and when.

After critics raised concerns about leaked copies of the proposed K-4 social studies curriculum, Education Minister David Eggen released drafts of all subjects last week. He’s expected to release updated drafts for broad public consultation this fall. Although Eggen aims to approve the new K-4 curriculum by December, there’s no word yet when the new expectations will hit classrooms.

The changes, including a new emphasis on computational thinking, are supported by math education research, practices in other provinces and countries, and were in response to feedback from the public, Amanda Henry, chief of staff to the education minister, said in a Tuesday email.

The additions should bolster youngsters’ grasp of basic number facts, geometry and algebraic reasoning, and improve their ability to solve problems, Henry said.

Some parents and mathematicians have long raised concerns that Alberta’s current math curriculum puts too much emphasis on using multiple “strategies” for solving arithmetic and multiplication problems that are unfamiliar to many parents. Defenders have countered that teachers — not the curriculum — decide how to teach concepts, and that new approaches help kids who don’t understand traditional problem-solving methods.

In response to faltering math scores on both provincial and international standardized tests, Eggen tweaked the current curriculum to specify students memorize basic sums and products, and added no-calculator sections to Grade 6 and 9 provincial exams.

At a meeting with some interested groups last week, representatives told Eggen students need to better understand the practical applications of math concepts, said Alissa Boyle, outreach manager for the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta.

The curriculum should emphasize more persistence in problem solving, she said.

Steven Khan, an assistant professor in math education and computational thinking at the University of Alberta, has some technical concerns about how the draft math curriculum is organized. There’s no clear links drawn yet between grade levels outlining how students build on knowledge or skills, he said. Khan, who instructs future teachers on how to teach math, said post-secondary programs should require more math for teachers in training.

“It’s woefully inadequate in terms of numbers of hours and expectations,” he said.

Parent Tran-Davies would tweak the draft math curriculum further if she could, to have children work with algorithms as early as Grade 2, and to specify that students stack numbers vertically for addition and subtraction.

She thinks using different strategies, such as colouring boxes in a grid to add numbers, should only be taught if students are confused by more traditional methods.

Some proposed changes from the current K-4 math curriculum

Fractions would be introduced

■

in Grade 1, earlier than the current Grade 3

More emphasis on monetary

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value of coins and bills in grades 2, 3, and 4

More emphasis on time, chronology

■ of events and following instructions in all grades

First-graders would memorize

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addition and subtraction of numbers up to 10 (currently up to five)

Second-graders would add and

■

subtract numbers up to 120 (currently 100), and group numbers up to 60 (new)

Third-graders would multiply

■

numbers up to 9x9 (currently 5x5)

Fourth-graders would memorize

■ times tables up to 9x9 (currently 7x7)

Fourth-graders would work

■

with and design algorithms — a set of instructions for people or machines (new)