Reply #132: What do first graders need to think "critically" about? [View All]

A firm foundation in math facts and computation and clear conceptual understanding of the basics will allow the older student to think far more critically than the student who spent his early years learning to think critically. ;)

I'm simply amazed at the amount of time my kids spend on word problems, when they don't even know their math facts.

Remember this in the news a while back?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/18/tech/main2104384.shtml

"Even efforts to make math relevant may be irrelevant, says the study, released Wednesday. Nations that try to teach math in terms of daily life have the lowest test scores. "

Sure, our kids have a blast learning about graphs, tables, venn diagrams, geometry, "relevant" real life word problems, etc. in second grade, but the kids in other countries are enjoying math less, yet outscoring our kids. Their students are filling our university math programs because they are better prepared. In my opinion, those are the results that matter.