The Chinese School BBC2
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Re: The Chinese School BBC2
The teachers you refer to probably did not attend any CPD on the method which is a worry. It's possible they would not know how to deal with decimals in the old method too!
The old methods are fine for some people but many really didn't understand what they were doing and so can't spot a mistake. Teaching estimation before calculation is the most important thing so you have a sense of the order of the answer you are expecting ... even when using a calculator!
The old methods are fine for some people but many really didn't understand what they were doing and so can't spot a mistake. Teaching estimation before calculation is the most important thing so you have a sense of the order of the answer you are expecting ... even when using a calculator!
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southbucks3
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Re: The Chinese School BBC2
My boys all know three methods, all started with chunking, all have been told to estimate first, by teachers and myself, only one does. 
that's because they have my darling husband's genetics I suspect!
The teacher up front suits two of my boys best because they are v v quiet, prefer to get all the info down and then see a teacher or me later if they are stuck. The more confident of the three is happier in a grouped seating arrangement as he will ask for help as he goes along, both from teacher and peers.
I like the sound of the system created with pupils in rows, teacher up front, but using interactive ipads and white boards when doing worked examples, this means pupils can be immediately spotted if they are struggling or if they need to progress they can without waiting. This method means a teacher can also immediately detect if several pupils are struggling, then they need a class re-cap, or if only one or two are quietly struggling they cannot escape a teachers attention and hope to catch up later, or sometimes not bother if they can swing it. Had this been around when I did chemistry I may not have spent a month before the exams panic learning as up until then I had studiously avoided my teachers attention as he assumed I was brilliant like my big sister, who of course did my homework for me too!
As for climbing the school stair bannisters in the next episode.....doesn't everone at some point climb something at school they should not, it's training for M16 really.
that's because they have my darling husband's genetics I suspect!The teacher up front suits two of my boys best because they are v v quiet, prefer to get all the info down and then see a teacher or me later if they are stuck. The more confident of the three is happier in a grouped seating arrangement as he will ask for help as he goes along, both from teacher and peers.
I like the sound of the system created with pupils in rows, teacher up front, but using interactive ipads and white boards when doing worked examples, this means pupils can be immediately spotted if they are struggling or if they need to progress they can without waiting. This method means a teacher can also immediately detect if several pupils are struggling, then they need a class re-cap, or if only one or two are quietly struggling they cannot escape a teachers attention and hope to catch up later, or sometimes not bother if they can swing it. Had this been around when I did chemistry I may not have spent a month before the exams panic learning as up until then I had studiously avoided my teachers attention as he assumed I was brilliant like my big sister, who of course did my homework for me too!
As for climbing the school stair bannisters in the next episode.....doesn't everone at some point climb something at school they should not, it's training for M16 really.
Re: The Chinese School BBC2
I guess everyone struggles with some method; to me the old way makes perfect sense and I can do it in my head with ease. I do agree with the teaching of mental calculation and estimates (and not sure we learnt to do that), but still prefer old method multiplication/division as it just seems easier. I guess my bug bear with this is that I showed DC how to do multiplication my way/the old way in yr2(?) - hadn't been told there was a new way when I taught him and it was just his curiosity that led to me showing him as he has always been interested in numbers. But later the school forced him to do the new way and abandon the old way which completely confused himGuest55 wrote:
The old methods are fine for some people but many really didn't understand what they were doing and so can't spot a mistake. Teaching estimation before calculation is the most important thing so you have a sense of the order of the answer you are expecting ... even when using a calculator!
Re: The Chinese School BBC2
That is scary - the two teachers leading the "adult class" were young/new teachers so they (might) be excused for their ignorance and you are right, any kind of maths may not be their forte; but they are the people that were teaching 50 DCs in year 5 (remember that is the year just before the 11+)!Guest55 wrote:The teachers you refer to probably did not attend any CPD on the method which is a worry. It's possible they would not know how to deal with decimals in the old method too!
Re: The Chinese School BBC2
DS2 has just finished year 7 in a grammar school. He says that he was never taught the grid method at primary and his year 7 maths teachers expected them to get on with whatever method they wanted to use (he is in a top set and doesn't know whether the same policy applies in the other sets). In year 5 he had maths lessons with year 7 at a local girls' grammar and apparently the teacher there did spend one lesson exploring what methods everyone was used to using, but again then just let them get on with it. I can see that the grid method night help with algebra, but having set myself the task of using it to perform the calculation 223.5 x 123.62 earlier this evening just for the sheer hades of it, I'm afraid I soon gave up and did it with no trouble at all the old-fashioned way 
.
We watched the first instalment of the Chinese School together this evening and he was not wildly impressed by the Chinese method of teaching - apart from agreeing that paying attention to the teacher and not mucking around should be a given, whatever the teaching style.
.We watched the first instalment of the Chinese School together this evening and he was not wildly impressed by the Chinese method of teaching - apart from agreeing that paying attention to the teacher and not mucking around should be a given, whatever the teaching style.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
Re: The Chinese School BBC2
Thanks, Toadmum - someone else that doesn't find the old way is impossibleToadMum wrote:I can see that the grid method night help with algebra, but having set myself the task of using it to perform the calculation 223.5 x 123.62 earlier this evening just for the sheer hades of it, I'm afraid I soon gave up and did it with no trouble at all the old-fashioned way
And I wish my DC had been given the choice over what method to use in yr3/4/5/6; I had to go in to see the teachers, who politely assured me they understood and would let him continue to use the old method, only for me to find out that they were still forcing him to use the new way and confusing him.Re: The Chinese School BBC2
After the curriculum changed to the grid research was done to see how children performed with both methods.
The results showed that L5 children at age 11 could use any method successfully, but that L3 and4 children were greatly advantaged if they could use the grid.
The grid is something that I will continue to encourage to be taught as it reflects arrays and also the long-division algorithm. If you think of the division as a box with the divident in the centre, the quotient on top and the divisor to the left then you have either an array or the grid. It also reinforces place value. Ideal for yr 3 and 4.
However, my work this summer holiday writing maths tests doesn't use the grid at all despite it covering tests from yr1 to 6.
The results showed that L5 children at age 11 could use any method successfully, but that L3 and4 children were greatly advantaged if they could use the grid.
The grid is something that I will continue to encourage to be taught as it reflects arrays and also the long-division algorithm. If you think of the division as a box with the divident in the centre, the quotient on top and the divisor to the left then you have either an array or the grid. It also reinforces place value. Ideal for yr 3 and 4.
However, my work this summer holiday writing maths tests doesn't use the grid at all despite it covering tests from yr1 to 6.
Re: The Chinese School BBC2
As an extra aside, the 'I' has an article on the success of the numeracy strategy in encouraging more children to take maths as a subject at A level.
Finally through to fruition and showing excellent results but sadly dead and buried. There is lots in the new curriculum that I like, mostly on the problem solving and reasoning end though.
Finally through to fruition and showing excellent results but sadly dead and buried. There is lots in the new curriculum that I like, mostly on the problem solving and reasoning end though.
Re: The Chinese School BBC2
The success has been obvious for years - my DS was in Year 1 when it started an just finished his 3rd year at uni. The death of the NS is all political not educational ...moved wrote:As an extra aside, the 'I' has an article on the success of the numeracy strategy in encouraging more children to take maths as a subject at A level.
Finally through to fruition and showing excellent results but sadly dead and buried. There is lots in the new curriculum that I like, mostly on the problem solving and reasoning end though.
It is also the confidence in number and problem solving that the NS encouraged.
I think the aims of the new NC are admirable but its these aims that are getting sidelined by an 'over the top' focus on traditional computation which is already hindering children's confidence.
Re: The Chinese School BBC2
I, too, was a great fan of the NS. I will try and keep to the 'spirit' of it. It gave children a good feel for number. A mum of one of my pupils said that she wished she had been taught that way, she had a fear of maths, her. Son told her not to be daft, maths is great fun!
