Notes on Math Fluency – Part One  How should children acquire math fluency? There is a rising volume of debate on thistopic, world-wide, and a number of conflicting points of view. What is our historical response to controversy? … We ask * What do the experts say? *What actually works?      * What are the needs … Notes on Math Fluency – Part One Read More » The post Notes on Math Fluency – Part One appeared first on The Pi Project ..read more

Inequality is a Waste We Cannot Afford We are all aware that minorities are underrepresented in STEM fields in the US — they earn only 12.5% of all such degrees, although they make up nearly 40% of the population. (link here)  Women make up less than a quarter of those working in STEM occupations, and … Thoughts on Teaching Math for Equity Read More » The post Thoughts on Teaching Math for Equity appeared first on The Pi Project ..read more

We Need to Stop Giving Timed Tests in Math – What Shall We Do Instead? We highly recommend this ASCD audio interview with Jennifer Bay-Williams, one of the authors of “Math Fact Fluency: 60+ Games and Assessment Tools to Support Learning and Retention”.  (If the book is too pricey, here‘s a companion website with some … Speed Is Not Intelligence – Part 3 Read More » The post Speed Is Not Intelligence – Part 3 appeared first on The Pi Project ..read more

We Need to Stop Giving Timed Tests in Math – What Does the Research Say? We are often criticized for opposing timed tests. “How will children learn their facts?” people ask, and “When I was a kid, we had to memorize our times tables, and it worked for us.” In part 3 of this blog … Speed Is Not Intelligence – Part 2 Read More » The post Speed Is Not Intelligence – Part 2 appeared first on The Pi Project ..read more

We Need to Stop Giving Timed Tests in Math – A Personal Chronicle Timed Tests Can Cause Long-Term Damage At right is a photo of me (Kathleen) in elementary school. I’m in the front left, looking forlorn. Indeed, I struggled to pass each grade, mostly because of math.  I remember trying to finish timed tests … Speed is Not Intelligence – Part 1 Read More » The post Speed is Not Intelligence – Part 1 appeared first on The Pi Project ..read more

We Need to Stop Giving Timed Tests in Math – What Does the Research Say? We are often criticized for opposing timed tests. “How will children learn their facts?” people ask, and “When I was a kid, we had to memorize our times tables, and it worked for us.” In part 3 of this blog series, we’ll look at answers to the first question.   However, the more we study the second statement, the more we realize, “No, actually it DIDN’T work.”  In reality, a huge segment of American adults (more than 90% according to a recent Forbes survey) report having at least some math anxiety ..read more

We Need to Stop Giving Timed Tests in Math – A Personal Chronicle Timed Tests Can Cause Long-Term Damage At right is a photo of me (Kathleen) in elementary school. I’m in the front left, looking forlorn. Indeed, I struggled to pass each grade, mostly because of math.  I remember trying to finish timed tests of 100 addition or multiplication facts in 3 minutes.  I ended up handing in each test with about 40 problems done, and teardrops on the rest. It’s difficult to define irony, but the photo at right comes close…  So does my current job as career-long math teacher and speci ..read more

We found Lego-type blocks at the Dollar Shop! We decided that finding fractional areas of a rectangle would be a good alternative representation, since we’ve used Cuisenaire rods so often to represent fractions. The large brown flat has 48 studs (bumps). We asked students to fill the flat completely with smaller pieces, then draw what they’d created on a white board, and label each fractional area. We asked them to repeat if time.              As they labeled the parts, we circulated, asking how they knew what that fractional part was. Almost uniformly, the ..read more

We were inspired by this article from Edutopia;  “When Teachers Overcome Math Anxiety, Students Benefit”, by Shelby Strong. Here’s a quote that struck home: “Methods of math instruction that focus on conceptual understanding may take longer than what we’re used to, but the positive results are well worth the time. The mysteries of fractions, integers, and variables, topics that often cause the greatest amount of distress, can all be unlocked by a solid understanding of arithmetic crafted in the early grades.” We strongly believe that every child can learn math. No child should hate or fe ..read more

The Beauty of Base Ten Blocks I (Kathleen) was working with a 4th grader years ago. She was struggling in math class, and came in before school twice a week to do 20 minutes of math with me. (Okay, her Dad had to bribe her with a donut…)  One morning I put 2 rainbow cubes on her place value chart and asked, “What happens if the ‘Times Ten Fairy’ comes and waves her wand at these two ones?” Nora picked them up and considered her options. “Times ten?” “Yup, times ten.” She turned and put the 2 blocks in the manipulatives basket. Then she counted out 10 new ones blocks. Then she stopped and ..read more