Primary school maths getting difficult for our kids ..

[harold81]

blog.mathsloth.com/2017/08/worldtop10elementarymathsqns.html

My DD ( primary 1 ) tried the list of questions .. and was 3 for 10. She managed the U.S. question, but the Hong Kong and China's primary 1 questions were slightly too difficult for her. The UK ones - she already knew when her teacher covered briefly with the class.

I have a feeling the standard of maths is unnecessarily high for primary school kids. The world's schools seem to think otherwise.. wonder how kids in other countries cope ..

I used to tutor primary school mathematics and my belief is that the form of mathematics being taught in school should be "in tandem" with a primary school child's mental model of abstraction and representation, otherwise, the young child's view of mathematics will be a dreadful one (!).

One issue i had with some schools was the introduction of word problems prematurely before the child's mental model of basic arithmetic is properly baked. If the child's grasp of basic arithmetic is still shaky, then the additional skill needed to interpret a word problem will overwhelm them.

I think it is difficult to compare. Don't forget while the UK starts school which children 4-5 years old, other countries a lot later.

I am German and have friends whose children are the same age as DD. While DD here started school my friend's children were still in nursery/pre-school for another 2 years.

When they started school they often had a basic understanding of numbers, all the stuff DD learned in Reception/Y1 like counting, recognizing numbers/shapes, rudimentary time telling (hours/half-hours), counting in twos, adding up to 10 and even some money related things. One German girl knew that €0.50+€0.50 means €1 when shopping as she got pocket money already with 6 years.

So a 5 year old here has less knowledge than a Grade 1 child somewhere else because the Grade 1 child may be 1-2 years older and learned through play, at home or at pre-school.

DD is now in Y6 and I am actually surprised about the level even after the harder curriculum. I think they spend quite some time on basics where in other countries children after primary school (so same age but already in secondary) are doing maths which is harder.

Yes, you are right. It is difficult to compare. I totally agree.

I am just thinking on the whole, for our generation of children, whether the way mathematics is to be taught/learnt has gotten to be too difficult. In one generation (from mine to DD's ), the face of elementary maths has changed from one where learning is scaffolding-based to one which is challenge-based today. Do you find it as challenging in Germany ?

I don't think the standard of maths in England is unnecessarily high for primary school kids, I think it's too repetitive and not focused on problem solving.
One thing really puzzle me is how they learn times tables. I think(not 100% sure) in my country, they cover all times tables in grade 2(7/8 years old) in a relatively short period of time. In England, they start learning 2,5,10 in KS1, and still learning it in YR4, with some children still not secure at the end.
I have read in parenting forum in my country that primary maths and secondary maths is totally different thing. They don't even call it maths, they call it arithmetic in primary, and focus on more problem solving.

Irvine in the U.K. Arithmetic is "number" and mathematics covers the study of all aspects ...geometry, measurement, trigonometry etc not just number

OP I think the blog you've linked to is misleading I certainly wouldn't use it with my class.

Try https://cdn.oxfordowl.co.uk/2015/07/22/13/54/09/24/Year1_TeachingforMastery.pdf

mrz, I don't think Arithmetic in my country means just numbers. Obviously a lot can be lost in translation. Definitely learning all those apart from numbers.
I just looked up in English dictionary, and it says:

Arithmetic: The branch of mathematics that deals with elementary theories of numbers, measurement, and computation.

Measurement definitely involves geometry imo.

As an aside, why are UK children still learning their 12 x table, we gave up a duodecimal currency system in 1971?

"Arithmetic (from the Greek ἀριθμός arithmos, "number") is a branch of mathematics that consists of the study of numbers, especially the properties of the traditional operations between them—addition, subtraction, multiplication and division."

, I think Arithmetic in my country is arithmetic+ pre-algebra in England. It just means I can't find the word that means exactly what it means in English!. They only start using word Maths in secondary.

But my definition was from "Concise Oxford English Dictionary"

Re the 12 times table, I think it is massively useful when it comes to working out factors, and also in helping develop number sense - a sense for how numbers relate to one another in multiple ways. This blog explains:

The 12 times table is one of the most useful. There are 12 months in a year. There are 12 inches in a foot. The number of degrees in a half or full rotation is a multiple of 12, as is the number of seconds in a minute, minutes in an hour and hours in a day. The fact that 12 is a multiple of 1,2,3,4,6 and 12 has made 12 and its multiples extremely useful for dividing up units of measurement for thousands of years. It’s also why we often refer to “dozens” when grouping objects or indicating magnitude. And that’s without the advantage knowledge of the 12 times tables gives in the many mathematical questions that will make use of the number 12 precisely because it has so many factors. If we weren’t biased by the number of fingers on our hands, we would probably have a number system built around the number 12.

teachingbattleground.wordpress.com/2016/01/30/why-you-should-welcome-times-tables-tests-part-2/

In Japan, kids do "sansu" (usually translated at arithmetic) at elementary level, and "sugaku" (maths) at secondary.

Elementary maths seems to be very thorough and repetitive. Tables are usually very secure and are tested and tested and tested. They only do up to 10x, though. I think I will push for my kid to learn up to 12, though, as I do think they come in handy.

arithmetic
The branch of mathematics dealing with the properties and manipulation of numbers.
The use of numbers in counting and calculation.‘
Mathematics
The abstract science of number, quantity, and space, either as abstract concepts (pure mathematics), or as^^ applied to other disciplines such as physics and engineering (applied mathematics)




Britain Turns to Chinese Textbooks to Improve Its Math Scores
www.nytimes.com/2017/08/05/world/asia/china-textbooks-britain.html

2 different systems, cultures and native languages .. I wonder if the language of mathematics is neutral enough to be "imported" from china.

Many schools use Singapore or Shanghai maths methods repackaged to fit the English curriculum as Maths No Problem and Inspire Maths.

We moved to the U.K. when my son was 6 and he started year 1 straight away. He was in China in the Pre-school for 3 years before that and he already secured all his time tables by then.

Some schools have been using those books for 5 years or so. NYT seem a bit slow to pick this up.

I can't seem to find anything rhat looks remotely like the Singapore on that blog question in the set of text books I have. Not even in the challenging practice book. So I'm inclined to agree with Mrz that the blog should be taken with a pinch of salt.

That bloody yr 2 train question popping up made me laugh though.

I think the train question was the one that caused a Twitter storm last year when someone claimed the answer was definitely 46 in the answer book

That's the one. Started on here and then ended up everywhere I think.

My Y1s love these http://www.thinkingblocks.com

What exactly is wanted in the "show your method" for the train one?

Could you just write 63 + 19 - 17 = 65 ? And that be enough? DD had no problem answering it, but just says "I can't show what's in my head" when asked to show method?

Yes although the Scholastic marking said 63-17=46+19=65

You got 2 marks for just writing 65