Study Suggests Math Teachers Scrap Balls and Slices

… many educators in recent years have incorporated more and more examples from the real world to teach abstract concepts. The idea is that making math more relevant makes it easier to learn.

That idea may be wrong, if researchers at Ohio State University are correct.
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The problem with the real-world examples, Dr. Kaminski said, was that they obscured the underlying math, and students were not able to transfer their knowledge to new problems.
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The findings run counter to what Dr. Kaminski said was a “pervasive assumption” among math educators that concrete examples help more children better understand math.
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Dr. Kaminski said even the effectiveness of using blocks and other “manipulatives,” which have become more pervasive in preschool and kindergarten, remained untested. It has not been shown that lessons in which children learn to count by using blocks translate to a better understanding of numbers than a more abstract approach would have achieved.
Read the full New York Times article

Our kids need better math!

This is what the National Mathematics Advisory Panel appointed by President Bush two years ago found.

Panel Urges Schools to Emphasize Core Math Skills
A presidential panel declared math education in the United States “broken” yesterday and called on schools to focus on ensuring that children master fundamental skills that provide the underpinnings for success in higher math and, ultimately, in high-tech jobs.
Read the full Washington Post article.

Report Urges Changes in Teaching Math
American students’ math achievement is “at a mediocre level” compared with that of their peers worldwide, according to a new report by a federal panel, which recommended that schools focus on key skills that prepare students to learn algebra.
Read the full New York Times article.

Fixate on Fractions, Says Math Panel
by Nancy Zuckerbrod, AP Education Writer
WASHINGTON — Schools could improve students’ sluggish math scores by hammering home the basics, such as addition and multiplication, and increasing the focus on fractions and some geometry, a presidential panel recommended Thursday.
Read the full article.

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings Highlights Findings of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel
Spellings Stresses Importance of Effort, Algebra and Early Math Education
Read the Press release

National Mathematics Advisory Panel:
Website and reports