focuses more on understanding and less on practicing methods. In the traditional curriculum, students practice a lot more. And this is where the crux of the disagreement lies, with one group of people believing that students need to spend a lot of time practicing, and the other group believing that it is better to understand an idea than it is to practice it by rote.
My aim in this book is not to promote a curriculum. I am aware that traditional and nontraditional books can be taughtwell or badly and that any book requires a knowledgeable and caring teacher. But we would not be facing our current crisis if the people who were concerned about the newer books had worked with the mathematicians to improve them, rather than declaring war.
The wars in California were instigated by organizations such as Mathematically Correct, which hosted a Web site explaining that they are involved in a “great educational war” to save traditional math teaching. The site, which included no contact names or people, was full of articles attacking any new mathematics approaches and gave instructions on ways to get rid of any reforms in schools. Behind the Web site was a group of activists who scoured the country, looking for schools that were using new books so that they could land in the area, with a wealth of resources, and organize parents to crush the reforms. One of the most active members of Mathematically Correct wrote several threatening messages to me, because my published research has shown that students need opportunities to learn actively. He wrote that I pose a great threat, as I am a professor from a top university and have data. He recommended that readers of his Web pages visit university education departments and “nuke ’em all, dammit.” 12 Others have told me that I had “better not” talk about my research publicly in America. Such threats and attempts to suppress research evidence may seem incredible, but they are characteristic of the events that make up the math wars. 13 , 14 For more detailed accounts of this phenomenon that continues to suppress progress in the education of our children, I recommend reading University of California, Berkeley, professor Alan Schoenfeld’s article “The Math Wars” and Michigan State professor Suzanne Wilson’s book California Dreaming, both very readable accounts of a truly unfortunate set of events.
How It All Started
In the 1980s there was widespread awareness that students were failing mathematics in shockingly high numbers, and a range of reforms were introduced into schools, prompted by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), which issued a new set of curriculum standards in 1989. Math books were quickly rewritten by publishers and filled with bright colors and real-world contexts. Teachers were instructed to be facilitators rather then lecturers and to have children work in groups. The reforms were introduced relatively quickly and often without consultation with parents. Some teachers were not trained to work in the new ways and so found it difficult. Critics claimed that mathematics was being threatened, that students were no longer learning standard methods, and that they were wasting time in groups chatting with friends instead of working. But rather than opening a dialogue between the different people who cared about mathematics teaching, battle lines were drawn and certain organizations such as Mathematically Correct declared war. The same groups are now fighting the introduction of Common Core Mathematics.
Learning without Thought
Those involved in the math wars think of different versions of mathematics teaching as either traditional or reform, and debates revolve around these two imaginary poles. In my research I have found that such categories do not actually mean much and that both camps include many types of teachers, teaching, and methods, some of which are highly effective and some not. Certain teachers might be described as traditional
My aim in this book is not to promote a curriculum. I am aware that traditional and nontraditional books can be taughtwell or badly and that any book requires a knowledgeable and caring teacher. But we would not be facing our current crisis if the people who were concerned about the newer books had worked with the mathematicians to improve them, rather than declaring war.
The wars in California were instigated by organizations such as Mathematically Correct, which hosted a Web site explaining that they are involved in a “great educational war” to save traditional math teaching. The site, which included no contact names or people, was full of articles attacking any new mathematics approaches and gave instructions on ways to get rid of any reforms in schools. Behind the Web site was a group of activists who scoured the country, looking for schools that were using new books so that they could land in the area, with a wealth of resources, and organize parents to crush the reforms. One of the most active members of Mathematically Correct wrote several threatening messages to me, because my published research has shown that students need opportunities to learn actively. He wrote that I pose a great threat, as I am a professor from a top university and have data. He recommended that readers of his Web pages visit university education departments and “nuke ’em all, dammit.” 12 Others have told me that I had “better not” talk about my research publicly in America. Such threats and attempts to suppress research evidence may seem incredible, but they are characteristic of the events that make up the math wars. 13 , 14 For more detailed accounts of this phenomenon that continues to suppress progress in the education of our children, I recommend reading University of California, Berkeley, professor Alan Schoenfeld’s article “The Math Wars” and Michigan State professor Suzanne Wilson’s book California Dreaming, both very readable accounts of a truly unfortunate set of events.
How It All Started
In the 1980s there was widespread awareness that students were failing mathematics in shockingly high numbers, and a range of reforms were introduced into schools, prompted by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), which issued a new set of curriculum standards in 1989. Math books were quickly rewritten by publishers and filled with bright colors and real-world contexts. Teachers were instructed to be facilitators rather then lecturers and to have children work in groups. The reforms were introduced relatively quickly and often without consultation with parents. Some teachers were not trained to work in the new ways and so found it difficult. Critics claimed that mathematics was being threatened, that students were no longer learning standard methods, and that they were wasting time in groups chatting with friends instead of working. But rather than opening a dialogue between the different people who cared about mathematics teaching, battle lines were drawn and certain organizations such as Mathematically Correct declared war. The same groups are now fighting the introduction of Common Core Mathematics.
Learning without Thought
Those involved in the math wars think of different versions of mathematics teaching as either traditional or reform, and debates revolve around these two imaginary poles. In my research I have found that such categories do not actually mean much and that both camps include many types of teachers, teaching, and methods, some of which are highly effective and some not. Certain teachers might be described as traditional
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