It's the one subject I can really confuse my 7 y.o in! Apparently they don't add up in columns any more- so how are they taught '212+453=' for instance? A 3 mile long number-line? In the infants school it was all about sets and so on and whilst I understand the teaching of maths has changed a lot since I was at school ('66-'80!) probably because it was felt many children just didn't understand the basic CONCEPT behind numbers, I just don't get what they're doing now! ALSO, I did hear that a year 5 child was given '47+32=', the acceptable answers (!) being 79 or 80, as in 47 is almost 50 and 32 is almost 30. No problem - perhaps a good thing!- if a child's highest mathematical ability need only ever be "how much flour will be left in this 20kg bag if I take 7kg out?" But not perhaps as useful if you need to know the square root of 345.6578 for instance!
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