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?

Teresa Dunn
Calvin Miller
jordan bonifacio
Trent Hope
Cheryl Mark
Robert Heigold
Tris Trethart
martin schroeder
Darren Dumais
Marc Provencher
Joan Ramsay
Don Myroon
Doug Fletcher
Sandra Ambler
Jim Brownlee
Tricia Roy
Bruce and Aleman
Valsa Peter
tony Boogmans
Anne Marie Gauthier
Tanya Leblanc
William Hibbert
Richard Clements
Jeffrey Wells
Gerald Goldie
Thirza Odishaw
Cindy Doy
Evelyn Reimer
Sean Feldman
Krimsen Lee

Showing 1187 comments

  • Teresa Dunn
    signed 2024-10-23 07:40:17 -0600
  • Calvin Miller
    signed 2024-10-23 07:39:41 -0600
  • jordan bonifacio
    signed 2024-10-23 07:39:40 -0600
  • Trent Hope
    signed 2024-10-23 07:39:36 -0600
  • Cheryl Mark
    signed 2024-10-23 07:39:20 -0600
  • Robert Heigold
    signed 2024-10-23 07:39:03 -0600
  • Tris Trethart
    signed 2024-10-23 07:38:59 -0600
  • martin schroeder
    signed 2024-10-23 07:38:46 -0600
  • Darren Dumais
    signed 2024-10-23 07:38:46 -0600
  • Marc Provencher
    signed 2024-10-23 07:38:42 -0600
  • Joan Ramsay
    signed 2024-10-23 07:37:59 -0600
  • Don Myroon
    signed 2024-10-23 07:37:51 -0600
  • Doug Fletcher
    signed 2024-10-23 07:37:47 -0600
  • Sandra Ambler
    signed 2024-10-23 07:37:41 -0600
  • Jim Brownlee
    signed 2024-10-23 07:37:29 -0600
    Math is one of the most important subjects kids take! They need it for life.!
  • Tricia Roy
    signed 2024-10-23 07:37:20 -0600
  • Bruce and Aleman
    signed 2024-10-23 07:37:19 -0600
  • Valsa Peter
    signed 2024-10-23 07:37:18 -0600
  • tony Boogmans
    signed 2024-10-23 07:37:04 -0600
  • Anne Marie Gauthier
    signed 2024-10-23 07:37:03 -0600
  • Tanya Leblanc
    signed 2024-10-23 07:36:37 -0600
  • William Hibbert
    signed 2024-10-23 07:36:36 -0600
  • Richard Clements
    signed 2024-10-23 07:36:22 -0600
  • Jeffrey Wells
    signed 2024-10-23 07:36:22 -0600
  • Gerald Goldie
    signed 2024-10-23 07:36:20 -0600
  • Thirza Odishaw
    signed 2024-10-23 07:36:13 -0600
    I’m a teacher.
  • Cindy Doy
    signed 2024-10-23 07:36:03 -0600
  • Evelyn Reimer
    signed 2024-10-23 07:36:00 -0600
  • Sean Feldman
    signed 2024-10-23 07:35:52 -0600
  • Krimsen Lee
    signed 2024-10-23 07:35:51 -0600