The PI Tackles the Math Wars

There were quite a few comments in the blogosphere about the recent Seattle Times article about math achievement in Washington (see here and here), and now the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is following up with its own article about math in Washington, this time looking through the lens of the Reform Math vs. Traditional Math debate. The interesting part of the article to me was the comparison between problem sets in the two styles; the reform math activity is one that I remember doing for fun when I was in school many, many moons ago.

The other interesting thing is a link to Washington Parents and Educators for Mathematically Correct Curriculum, an interest group that certainly favors the traditional approach. On their front page they have one of those quotes that you can't quite believe anyone would ever really say: “We Don’t Teach Long Division Anymore; It Stifles Their Creativity.” It makes for a good talking point, I guess.

In terms of where I fall, I'm completely with the traditionalists. The idea of 1st graders making their own meaning and finding their own way just doesn't work for me. I teach algorithms, I give them multiple ways to find the answers to the problems, and I relate what they're doing to the real world. We're doing a curriculum adoption right now, and I hope that what we get next year is similar to what we're doing right now because it's working quite well for my kids.