We Thought We Should Mention

Valerie Faulkner of North Carolina State University argues for a shift in the mathematical language we use.  The Common Core should give us pause and force us to reconsider the terminology and vocabulary we employ in describing certain skills and concepts.  Here are a few examples:

Old Habit (eliminate)                                     New Habit (adopt)

Defining equality as “ same as”                   Defining equality as “same value as”

Calling digits numbers                                    Clearly distinguishing between digits, numbers and numerals

Addition makes things bigger                      Addition is about combining

Subtraction makes things get smaller      Subtraction is about difference

Let’s borrow from the tens place               Use regrouping, trading, decomposing

Multiplication makes things bigger          Teach 3 structures of multiplication

Divison makes things smaller                     Teach the different structures of divisions,

Doesn’t go into                                                 Prepare students for later learning by using accurate language

Saying “and” means decimal point         Don’t create false rules for language using and

Canceling out                                                   Explicitly use and discuss the idea behind simplifying

Referring to “the answer”                           Use the model or the relationships to justify your answer

Guess-and-check as a strategy                 Teach systematic math representations

                                                                                                                             

Old habits die hard, but this is food for thought as many districts get farther into implementing the Common Core.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 17th, 2013 at 10:29 am and is filed under Math Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.