In the Learning Moments video clip collection, "Early Mathematical Thinking," children can be seen trying various strategies to solve physical problems. The article in Scientific American Mind "Why Math Education in the U.S. Doesn’t Add Up," supports the idea that this is the best way to master math:
"In 2005 psychologist Margarete Delazer of Medical University of Innsbruck in Austria and her colleagues took functional MRI scans of students learning math facts in two ways: some were encouraged to memorize and others to work those facts out, considering various strategies. The scans revealed that these two approaches involved completely different brain pathways. The study also found that the subjects who did not memorize learned their math facts more securely and were more adept at applying them. Memorizing some mathematics is useful, but the researchers' conclusions were clear: an automatic command of times tables or other facts should be reached through 'understanding of the underlying numerical relations.'"
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Comments (1)
Displaying 1 CommentPennsylvania, United States
Our educational system does favor covering topic after topic in math without time to allow students to truly grasp the concepts presented. There has to be a better way. No wonder so many come away with math anxiety--they are not given the time to develop the understanding. Math has a beauty to it, like an art form, slow down and let the understanding take place. In preschool the children work with math everyday--as they sort, count, build--all hands on. They see the math, they touch the math, they make connections to the math concepts --not through worksheets but through hands and eyes and real materials.
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