But others disagree. John Haven, whose children attended Montgomery County public schools, believes far too much time in classrooms is spent on nonessential math work. He made an unscientific study of math teaching in Montgomery and concluded that, by his standards, 20 to 40 percent of what is taught is a waste of time. "It is a huge impact on math instruction. It is like having popcorn parties every Tuesday and Friday," he said.
I think that might have been John Hoven who gave us that quote. Anyway, read the whole thing.
I like this passage:
ReplyDeleteThe new Focal Points are also likely to cause a major shift in the content in textbooks. "There are 750-page math textbooks," Fennell said. Faced with hundreds of state standards around the country, he said, publishers decided to try to cover everything that might be taught.
He and others would like to see textbooks get down to the essentials. Wilson said the sixth-grade math textbook for Singapore is 36 pages long, and Singapore scores highest on math exams worldwide.
"You have to have a car to carry around a textbook in the United States," he said.
Unfortunately, this passage is incorrect.
ReplyDeletePrimary Mathematics 6A: 96 pages
Primary Mathematics 6B: 120 pages
Primary Mathematics Workbook 6A: 96 pages
Primary Mathematics Workbook 6B: 112 pages
That's 400 pages, and there are no photographs of penguins diving off a snow cliff.