Today, in my geometry class, which is comprised primarily of eleventh graders, I spent ten minutes explaining why 2 times one half was one and not four. They understood the concept of half of $2 being $1 but the actual multiplication was lost on quite a few of them.
No wonder these kids can't pass geometry.
6 comments:
So, what you are saying is - I shouldn't feel so bad anymore that my 5th graders have issues with multiplication?
I feel your pain! The funny thing is if you were to put a whole sheet of fraction multiplication problems in front of them, they would whip them out in nothing flat. But give them a problem of this form like we had today and they will flip out! They don't seem to make the connections.
1/2x(8x + 4) = 12
OMG! This is taught in 4th grade and my kids got it--but I bet lost it during the summer.
Schoolgal
Some loose it the minute they walk out the door.
I agree about them losing math. I've made my students practice their facts until they knew them faster than me... but they've slowly started forgetting them already! Sadly, I'm having trouble building my students' math skills, because they have such a weak foundation and a low ability of transferring learning into their long term memory. Some of my 5th graders still have trouble with subtracting and TOO many of them rely on their fingers to the point that they forget what they are even doing.
Apparently the "experts" who contrive various learning methods are unable to find a method(s) that actually do the intended job.
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