What do you think of common core math? I'm not a fan of common core at all, but I love how it teaches math. Instead of counting by ones, or doing crazy right to left carry the 1 nonsense it concentrates on going left to right.<p>For example, normally 14 + 17 would be:<p>7+4=11 -> Put the 1 in the ones place to "carry" it -> 1+1=2, plus your carried 1 = 3 -> Answer: 31<p>At higher levels it becomes harder to do math in your head with this foundation and students are more likely to depend on slow paper methods or calculators.<p>With common core 14 + 17 is:<p>(Tens place) 10 + 10 = 20 -> (Ones place) 7+4 = 6+4+1 = 10+1 = 11 -> 20 + 11 = 31.<p>This can indeed be harder to learn when on paper, but with the help of a teacher this is incredibly easy, and very fast. Most of you are probably already doing this in your head, and you probably taught it to yourself because what you learned in school is slow and taxes your personal RAM.<p>I don't get all the up and arms about it. As I understand it, this is how Asian countries do math (based on the abacus). When you look at the statistics, US schools do better at lower levels but cliff dives when it comes to middle school and beyond.<p>Some links:<p>Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/commoncore<p>Google Image Search for 'common core math': https://www.google.com/search?q=common+core+math&newwindow=1&safe=off&es_sm=122&qscrl=1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=TusQVMn3Bo62yATlnoH4CQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg&biw=1920&bih=965
> "Most of you are probably already doing this in your head"<p>This is the cargo cult thinking behind common core. What the self-appointed geniuses behind common core have done is, they observed that high performing students use various mental shortcuts so they don't have to do addition the formal way, or refer to multiplication tables. So they said, "let's not teach students to do addition the formal way, and let's not make them memorize multiplication tables", assuming this would make all the students high performers.<p>But the reason high performers are high performers is that they <i>did</i> learn addition the formal way and they <i>did</i> memorize their multiplication tables, then proceeded <i>beyond</i> that to adopt mental shortcuts. You can't just skip the foundational stuff.
> I'm not a fan of common core at all, but I love how it teaches math.<p>When the debate started heating up I took a course on common core. The amount of misconceptions surrounding it are surprising. My favorite probably being that the federal government is mandating it, when it was voluntarily adopted by 43 states. Another is that the images being passed around on Reddit and showing up in your search are the mandated way to teach math. They aren't. Nor are Khan Academy's lessons. It is more about landings than the individual stairs. By landing X student should be able to do Y. What stairs you took in between is your business. Lesson plans are still derived by the teachers, some are just awful at their jobs or themselves have misconceptions that they have to follow a hideous thing done by another teacher in another state.
The great thing about common core is the disappearance of multiple-choice tests. Anyone who grew up outside the US will tell you that having to show your reasoning is much superior to picking between ABC and D.