Hi melodym,
Nope, never made an effort to teach my kid chess. I think he knows how to play it, but I never played against him, I just don’t like the game (used to play it though). I have my doubts about the theories that learning non-math skills will help with math. While David did play violin for a while, he was already 6 to 8 years ahead of his age in math…so it certainly wasn’t needed, at least in his early years. With music, I tend to think it’s people trying to sell their services and products that push the idea that music is helpful. With chess, I don’t they care either way, as the market just isn’t that big.
Hi Nee,
David and myself recently went through the Common Core test for Florida (I think), in 4th grade math, and we found some interesting things. The main thing was that some 75% of the test was actually traditional math questions. Another 15% or so could be found by learning (or re-learning) some basic mathematical terms (like ordinate, associative property, etc.) - the stuff we’re taught at some point and then quickly forget, since the terms themselves are obscure and basically useless, even though what they represent is very important. The remainder dealt with some of the far-out (and stupid) methods associated with the way math is taught today (like “Use the Box Technique to multiply 45 by 82”) - for those you have to know the method to get credit.
Now, here’s the 6th Grade Common Core Math Test in New York:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCIQFjAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.engageny.org%2Ffile%2F8541%2Fdownload%2Fgrade_6_math_released_questions.pdf&ei=lD-5U9_gOcj_oQTetILYBg&usg=AFQjCNFX285BpdqMhQXNd6e0UKDy-dRogw
Virtually all the questions could be in a Saxon Book. If you learn Saxon Math, you can answer virtually every question (same with Florida, although you have to also know the terminology and some stupid methods too). But if you know the real math, you then can easily answer the question, and then backfill with whatever garbage they’re demanding. In other words, you basically have the answer key, and since most questions are multiple choice, that’s all you need. For the others, you may or may not have to show some freaked-out method of doing the problem - but even then, if they don’t ask for a freaked-out method, you can make one up by playing with the numbers until you get the right answer, which isn’t too hard, since you already know the the right answer.
Back in Engineering School, I had used that technique in an advanced class and aced it (one of my two “A’s” in engineering - I was far from top of the class). What happened there was very fortunate for me. I had bought a calculator that was so advanced that even the teachers didn’t know what it could do (I don’t even remember buying it, and it was costly). So I programmed-in most of the grunt-work, like multiplying polynomials and adding vectors, and other stuff that takes a lot of time on tests. The calculator not only enabled me to whip through my tests, but also whip through my homework, and actually learn the material. I also learned the grunt-work thoroughly because I had to write and test the programs for each technique. I can still do that stuff in my sleep, even though I never used any of it, for anything, for the past 30 years now. In one case, having been liberated from the grunt work, I developed a single-step means of doing what was considered a complex problem involving control systems. I basically was able to pick up the patterns in the problem illustration and have the equations ready to go in one step. I taught it to a friend of mine and told him that he must backfill the steps when he does it on a test. He didn’t - he wrote “by inspection”, and the teacher thought he was “inspecting” his neighbor’s test, so he got no credit (even though he had the right answer, LOL). The bottom-line here is that you have to teach your kid to backfill if you teach him how to do the problems right, at least for the problems where you have to show your work.
So, to answer your question, yes, definitely, have the kid learn math in the traditional way. I think it will pay dividends from Day 1, as knowing even the basics will speed up stuff. The teachers are now being told, at least in the US, to tell parents not to “confuse” the kids with the old methods. Don’t believe that for a minute and keep in mind that the only goal for the teachers is to keep everyone in the class at the same level. Smart (or advanced) kids are just as much of a “problem” for teachers as slow kids. Also keep in mind, at least in my (strong) opinion, that the techniques used now are meant more to “level the playing field” for girls and minorities that don’t do as well in traditional math, likely because they get less help from their parents (certainly true for blacks and Hispanics in the US, and likely true for girls due to gender stereotyping). Get the parents out of the game, and things become a lot more level.
My opinion of what the education establishment is trying to do to children has not changed in 30+ years of studying it. They keep morphing, but they seem wedded to assuring failure of kids that are not fortunate enough to have parents to actually educate them. I will never trust them, at least in US.