What IS math, anyhow?
One of my favorite parts of conducting my Family Math Nights is chatting with parents. (I also love playing games with the kids, but that’s a different story.) Here are two very different conversations I had at two recent Family Math Nights.
Conversation 1:
Remember the old TV commercial where a grouchy granny opens a hamburger bun and grumbles, “Where’s the beef?”
I hosted a Family Math Night a few weeks ago where a grandfather sought me out to have a word with me. He began, “I want you to know I’m a true math skeptic. I see a lot of children and parents having fun here, but I don’t see any math. What you have here is logic, reasoning and spatial games, but I don’t see any math.”
“Ah! You’re looking for number games,” I replied.
Yes, that was it. We had a lively chat on what math is, how it can come in forms other than numbers, and how it can go beyond “number math”. I then pointed him to the stations which had a bit of “number math”, and checking in with him later he was a very happy camper.
Conversation 2:
At last night’s Family Math Night, I met a father who was very interested in discussing whether one of the games could be described in a computer algorithm. He’s a Computer Scientist, and my background is in engineering, so this was a fascinating conversation.
I then told him of the grandfather’s skepticism. He said that in India, where he grew up, that would be call arithmetic, and that arithmetic is only a small part of mathematics.
If math is more than numbers, what exactly is it?
There are 10 different math standards which students in grades Kindergarten through high school must be taught each year. These are set by NCTM, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the folks who define the math standards for the U.S.
The first standard is “Number and Operations”, which could just as well be called “Arithmetic”. If this is just one of 10 standards, what is all the rest of Mathematics about? Here is NCTM’s complete list:
To your child's success,
Rita
Conversation 1:
Remember the old TV commercial where a grouchy granny opens a hamburger bun and grumbles, “Where’s the beef?”
I hosted a Family Math Night a few weeks ago where a grandfather sought me out to have a word with me. He began, “I want you to know I’m a true math skeptic. I see a lot of children and parents having fun here, but I don’t see any math. What you have here is logic, reasoning and spatial games, but I don’t see any math.”
“Ah! You’re looking for number games,” I replied.
Yes, that was it. We had a lively chat on what math is, how it can come in forms other than numbers, and how it can go beyond “number math”. I then pointed him to the stations which had a bit of “number math”, and checking in with him later he was a very happy camper.
Conversation 2:
At last night’s Family Math Night, I met a father who was very interested in discussing whether one of the games could be described in a computer algorithm. He’s a Computer Scientist, and my background is in engineering, so this was a fascinating conversation.
I then told him of the grandfather’s skepticism. He said that in India, where he grew up, that would be call arithmetic, and that arithmetic is only a small part of mathematics.
If math is more than numbers, what exactly is it?
There are 10 different math standards which students in grades Kindergarten through high school must be taught each year. These are set by NCTM, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the folks who define the math standards for the U.S.
The first standard is “Number and Operations”, which could just as well be called “Arithmetic”. If this is just one of 10 standards, what is all the rest of Mathematics about? Here is NCTM’s complete list:
- Number and Operations
- Algebra
- Geometry
- Measurement
- Data Analysis and Probability
- Problem Solving
- Reasoning and Proof
- Communication
- Connections
- Representation
A few of my personal favorites for younger students are what's known as Logic and Reasoning and Spatial Skills. These would fall under NCTM’s “Reasoning and Proof”, “Problem Solving” and “Geometry”. Pre-algebra skills are a lot of fun at this age, too.
I’ll write more about the standards in my upcoming blogs. In the meantime, what is math to you?
To your child's success,
Rita
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