Teach Math

Sign the petition to Teach Math:

1,359 signatures
Goal: 5,000 Signatures

Teach Math

 

We are urgently calling on Alberta to teach math teachers to teach math!

That may seem like a silly request, but read on to find out which math-like-substance is being sold to teachers as “teaching math” now.

It's a perennial struggle in parent advocacy.

Parents want to know the basics are being covered in every subject, with time-tested, evidence-based approaches, so we can see our kids are learning.

Whenever we win once, though, the next fad - with the same fundamental flaws - comes packaged in new terms.

First it was “discovery math”.

Now it’s “Building Thinking Classrooms”.

Peter Liljedahl, a professor of math education at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, has seen his “Thinking Classrooms” pervade Alberta.

For him, a teacher demonstrating how to work a problem before the students work it themselves is “mimicking” rather than “thinking”.

Practicing math facts like reciting “2+2=4” and multiplication tables is deemed “memorizing” rather than “thinking”.

And on it goes.

The problem is that memorizing math facts and seeing demonstrations of new concepts are the evidence-based methods for kids to learn math.

These are also the methods parents know from experience are effective.

Liljedahl sells his program as research-based (and, believe us, “sells” is the right verb).

But education experts have investigated and Liljedahl does not have any research at all showing that his program improves math performance.

The approaches he characterizes as not “thinking” are actually shown to improve math performance.

Explicit instruction helps students work examples for themselves before reaching the point of frustration.

Memorizing math facts is crucial because working memory is limited.

Moving operations into long-term memory to be retrieved while solving problems increases the amount of calculation kids can do before working memory is overloaded.

Nevertheless, the Alberta Teachers’ Association's Math Council Spring Symposium in 2023 was devoted to promoting “Building Thinking Classrooms”.

Schools and school divisions all over the province are paying to teach teachers this warmed-over “discovery math”.

Alberta Education is spending provincial grants to sell it too.

That's taxpayer money that we are always being told is too scarce, and lots of it, being spent to promote a program without evidence it works.

Worse, your money is being spent to disparage and discourage methods that we do know work!

If our scores on the world's report card (PISA) are any indication, we can't afford another slip.

In 2012, only 15.1% of Alberta 15-year-olds lacked the baseline math skills to participate in society.

In 2022, 21.4% of Alberta 15-year-olds lacked the baseline math skills to participate in society.

As with other “discovery”-style approaches, the kids who manage to get the basics down - on their own or through parents or tutors - may even flourish in a “thinking classroom”.

But the kids who fall behind stay behind more than with proven approaches.

Parents opposed the so-called “experts” and banished “discovery math” to the dustbin of discarded fads where it belongs.

The same fundamental errors animate this newest fad.

Teachers shouldn't be taught, with our money, to ignore our concerns.

Alberta kids can't afford to spin their wheels while “experts” make money off the latest fad.

If you agree, please sign our petition to Teach Math!

Will you sign?

We, the undersigned, call on Alberta to teach math teachers to teach math!

Secured Via NationBuilder

Who's Signing?

Vicki Macfarlane
Joanny Liu
Leslie Adams
Dallas Marose
Raye & Barb Sivertson
David McClung
Pam Powell
Carolynne Nordstrom
Loretta Wieler
Barry Moore
Roxanne Szmata
Cindy Mumert
Mari Clark
Murray Harrison
Bernice Wells
Andrea Rode
Katherine Leblanc
Jesse Presakarchuk
Thuc Nguyen
Jamie Storsley
Arthur & Elizabeth Kitchen
Melissa Johnson
Pat Quinn
Heather Strobert
Sara Peden
Doug Spurgeon
Teresa Murray
Sascha Kramps
Kara Starkey
Rob Patterson

Showing 1187 comments

  • Vicki Macfarlane
    signed 2024-11-05 15:46:32 -0700
  • Joanny Liu
    signed 2024-11-05 14:56:57 -0700
    Let’s get it right!
  • Leslie Adams
    signed 2024-11-05 12:42:42 -0700
    Teach math that is proven that works
  • Dallas Marose
    signed 2024-11-03 23:40:31 -0700
  • Raye & Barb Sivertson
    signed 2024-11-03 22:46:02 -0700
  • David McClung
    signed 2024-11-03 10:59:11 -0700
  • Pam Powell
    signed 2024-11-03 07:42:51 -0700
  • Carolynne Nordstrom
    signed 2024-11-02 13:32:38 -0600
  • Loretta Wieler
    signed 2024-11-02 11:27:04 -0600
  • Barry Moore
    signed 2024-11-01 21:06:33 -0600
  • Roxanne Szmata
    signed 2024-11-01 09:21:46 -0600
  • Cindy Mumert
    signed 2024-11-01 09:09:31 -0600
  • Mari Clark
    signed 2024-10-31 13:11:42 -0600
  • Murray Harrison
    signed 2024-10-31 10:17:10 -0600
    We are constantly changing from things that work to things that sound good.
  • Bernice Wells
    signed 2024-10-31 01:48:00 -0600
    I am so over joyed that this is happening. Some people are seeing the math now is crap and has been for a long time
  • Andrea Rode
    signed 2024-10-30 20:43:56 -0600
  • Katherine Leblanc
    signed 2024-10-30 17:05:14 -0600
  • Jesse Presakarchuk
    signed 2024-10-30 16:28:56 -0600
  • Thuc Nguyen
    signed 2024-10-30 11:45:25 -0600
  • Jamie Storsley
    signed 2024-10-30 08:57:02 -0600
  • Arthur & Elizabeth Kitchen
    signed 2024-10-29 19:02:39 -0600
  • Melissa Johnson
    signed 2024-10-29 18:54:49 -0600
  • Pat Quinn
    signed 2024-10-29 17:07:03 -0600
  • Heather Strobert
    signed 2024-10-29 12:26:19 -0600
  • Sara Peden
    signed 2024-10-29 09:16:30 -0600
  • Doug Spurgeon
    signed 2024-10-29 08:37:49 -0600
  • Teresa Murray
    signed 2024-10-29 08:14:20 -0600
    Great harm has been done to math education across Canada in recent decades. families pay a huge price. Until you investigate the cost of outside tutoring (which system uses to its own benefit) and the desperation of those families who cannot afford outside tutoring, you have incomplete research. Many teachers know the damage being done and are silenced unfairly.
  • Sascha Kramps
    signed 2024-10-28 18:27:31 -0600
  • Kara Starkey
    signed 2024-10-28 13:37:31 -0600
  • Rob Patterson
    signed 2024-10-28 12:22:25 -0600