| Discussion: | Research Area |
| Topic: | upper middle schoolers that haven't yet mastered multiplication facts |
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| Subject: | RE: upper middle schoolers that haven't yet mastered multiplication facts |
| Author: | Dwayne |
| Date: | Jan 2 2005 |
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hair out!
I've often wondered if things are worse now than when I was young (early '70's
were my middle school years). I also wonder if there is a stigma in the
elementary schools on "drill and kill". I mean, someone came up with that
negative reference to rote memorization. Yes it is important for students to
understand the meaning of multiplication, but it is also important for them to
internalize the relationship between the numbers, and that comes from
memorization. One could teach what the meaning of GCF is, but past that, how
could a student do anything with that knowledge if you can't name all of the
factors of 24 and 36. Hey, why do they have so many of the same factors, like 2
and 4 and 6 and 12?
The other area severely lacking for middle schoolers is the ability to deal with
fractions. Hmmm... maybe I should start another discussion.
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