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?

Lisa Brown
Debbie Gallagher
Jared Sweet
Lori Hubschmid
Gary Jeronimo
Joseph Cyr
Lori McKay
Kent Fitzgerald
Peter Knight
Vicki Oliphant
Attila Estok
Kenneth Inkster
S Marklund
Femmie Cazemier
Viviana Lartiga
Craig Knaus
Mildred Kalthoff
Jackie Ammeter
Daniela Tomescu
Phil Foltinek
Nuria Martin
Virginia Rau
Brian Woodson
Lisa Doty
Diane Matthews
Regina Schoett
Barb Monahan
Lin Kent
Vedran Pintek
Aj Pettway

Showing 1187 comments

  • Lisa Brown
    signed 2024-10-28 11:33:57 -0600
  • Debbie Gallagher
    signed 2024-10-28 11:30:27 -0600
    Teach our children the basics – Reading, Writing and Arithmetic
  • Jared Sweet
    signed 2024-10-28 11:09:16 -0600
  • Lori Hubschmid
    signed 2024-10-28 11:08:24 -0600
  • Gary Jeronimo
    signed 2024-10-28 10:05:41 -0600
  • Joseph Cyr
    signed 2024-10-28 09:23:38 -0600
    Teach Math!
  • Lori McKay
    signed 2024-10-28 08:54:01 -0600
    The old ways work best. Ever since the education system started introducing new techniques to teach reading and math, students grades have been falling and failing. The old ways work best because they lay down the fundamentals and basics from which a foundation can be built upon. Without those fundamentals, those basics, there is no foundation and the result is very poor reading skills and very poor math skills. The evidence is right before you. More students than ever before are graduating without what they need to survive in life. Far too many cannot read or cannot read well enough to properly function. The same is true of their math skills. The education system is FAILINGFAILING THEIR STUDENTS AND FAILING IN DOING THEIR JOBS PROPERLY, WHICH IS TO EDUCATE STUDENTS SO THAT THEY HAVE ALL THE SKILLS THEY NEED IN LIFE TO FUNCTION AS FULLY RESPONSIBLE AND INDEPENDENT ADULTS, PREFERABLY WITH CONFIDENCE. TODAY’S STUDENTS LACK A GREAT DEAL AS A RESULT.
  • Kent Fitzgerald
    signed 2024-10-28 08:43:45 -0600
  • Peter Knight
    signed 2024-10-28 07:50:01 -0600
  • Vicki Oliphant
    signed 2024-10-27 20:49:02 -0600
  • Attila Estok
    signed 2024-10-27 18:58:24 -0600
  • Kenneth Inkster
    signed 2024-10-27 16:59:37 -0600
  • S Marklund
    signed 2024-10-27 13:58:14 -0600
    Enough if the dumbing down of out kids. Old school teaching still by far out performs and stupid new idea they try to push. Stop the indoctrination Start proper Education
  • Femmie Cazemier
    signed 2024-10-27 13:32:38 -0600
  • Viviana Lartiga
    signed 2024-10-27 13:20:40 -0600
  • Craig Knaus
    signed 2024-10-27 11:56:56 -0600
  • Mildred Kalthoff
    signed 2024-10-27 11:51:24 -0600
  • Jackie Ammeter
    signed 2024-10-27 07:50:54 -0600
  • Daniela Tomescu
    signed 2024-10-27 00:48:18 -0600
  • Phil Foltinek
    signed 2024-10-26 19:24:50 -0600
  • Nuria Martin
    signed 2024-10-26 18:59:51 -0600
  • Virginia Rau
    signed 2024-10-26 18:43:37 -0600
  • Brian Woodson
    signed 2024-10-26 18:09:02 -0600
    Will we never rid ourselves of these " wokies". What….where is the leadership in this province ?
  • Lisa Doty
    signed 2024-10-26 17:32:16 -0600
    It is frustrating and unacceptable that teachers, school boards and the Minister of Education are watching provincial math test scores drop year over year and yet they are not actively changing their teaching strategies. Come on! What has happened to the Alberta advantage? What are parents and our taxes paying for? No wonder people want to move their kids to private school or choose to homeschool.
  • Diane Matthews
    signed 2024-10-26 17:08:20 -0600
  • Regina Schoett
    signed 2024-10-26 16:07:22 -0600
  • Barb Monahan
    signed 2024-10-26 14:26:05 -0600
    Enough of this “fad” teaching thing. All it does is dumb down our children!
  • Lin Kent
    signed 2024-10-26 12:02:26 -0600
  • Vedran Pintek
    signed 2024-10-26 07:51:05 -0600
  • Aj Pettway
    signed 2024-10-26 07:02:17 -0600
    I know the research is hard to parse and put into practice in the classroom, but there are ways we can evaluate programs so they at least pass the smell test and incorporate foundational principals from the research on learning. BTC fails spectacularly.