Melonville -
TORONTO - Ontario is churning out high school graduates unable to add fractions or multiply numbers without the help of a calculator, math experts say.
“I notice this among my first-year students at university. If you’re solving multi-step problems, complex problems, your brain needs to be free to do things that are connected with the problem,” Queen’s University math professor Peter Taylor said. “And if part of it is occupied trying to remember what five times seven is — or how to divide by a fraction, and stuff like that — you will not manage to engage with the problem.
“It’s just like riding a bicycle ... when you successfully ride a bicycle, it’s because certain things are automatic.”
Testing results have revealed that half of the province’s Grade 6 students fail to meet the provincial standard in math.
more hurr durr
Ontario math curriculum subtracts the basics | Ontario | News | Toronto Sun
TORONTO - Ontario is churning out high school graduates unable to add fractions or multiply numbers without the help of a calculator, math experts say.
“I notice this among my first-year students at university. If you’re solving multi-step problems, complex problems, your brain needs to be free to do things that are connected with the problem,” Queen’s University math professor Peter Taylor said. “And if part of it is occupied trying to remember what five times seven is — or how to divide by a fraction, and stuff like that — you will not manage to engage with the problem.
“It’s just like riding a bicycle ... when you successfully ride a bicycle, it’s because certain things are automatic.”
Testing results have revealed that half of the province’s Grade 6 students fail to meet the provincial standard in math.
more hurr durr
Ontario math curriculum subtracts the basics | Ontario | News | Toronto Sun