Teach Math

Sign the petition to Teach Math:

1,358 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?

Dagmar Fortmuller
Leslie Shaw
Julia Chered
Phil Auger
Sarah Auger
Mel Charters
Brian McClelland
Monica Ostafichuk
Denton Eaglesham
Reginald Hammond
Doug Anderson
Katarina Zaremba
Loretta Reid
Sheila Stuckless
James Parkinson
Steven Frederick
Sharon McGettigan
Ross Weppler
Cindy Devine
Angel Lynch
Alan Schappert
Marj Van Camp
Daniel Harder
Nancy Chisholm
Brad d'Haene
Mike Bischke
Caleb Langford
Jim Taylor
Isabella Nelson
Fayth Mantai

Showing 1186 comments

  • Dagmar Fortmuller
    signed 2024-10-24 15:24:36 -0600
  • Leslie Shaw
    signed via 2024-10-24 15:03:28 -0600
  • Julia Chered
    signed 2024-10-24 14:43:42 -0600
    Mathematics is the language of the universe, we must teach it to our children
  • Phil Auger
    signed 2024-10-24 14:13:22 -0600
  • Sarah Auger
    signed 2024-10-24 14:09:46 -0600
  • Mel Charters
    signed 2024-10-24 13:50:22 -0600
  • Brian McClelland
    signed 2024-10-24 13:25:09 -0600
  • Monica Ostafichuk
    signed 2024-10-24 12:30:48 -0600
  • Denton Eaglesham
    signed 2024-10-24 12:23:21 -0600
  • Reginald Hammond
    signed 2024-10-24 12:18:06 -0600
  • Doug Anderson
    signed 2024-10-24 12:10:44 -0600
    I have grand children in the Alberta system and this is a deep concern
  • Katarina Zaremba
    signed 2024-10-24 11:51:59 -0600
  • Loretta Reid
    signed 2024-10-24 11:48:54 -0600
  • Sheila Stuckless
    signed 2024-10-24 11:34:53 -0600
  • James Parkinson
    signed 2024-10-24 11:29:22 -0600
    Why in God’/Allah’ name would you use information from a house of rats like Simon Fraser University???
  • Steven Frederick
    signed 2024-10-24 11:25:27 -0600
    Quit wasting our tax dollars and get back to the basics. I suggest we find copies of the school books we used in 1960 and start using them again. We probably also need to test our teachers of today to see if even they are qualified to teach the math, reading and writing courses. The school boards get away with this kind of crap because most parents are simply using the public school system as a day care.
  • Sharon McGettigan
    signed 2024-10-24 11:24:21 -0600
  • Ross Weppler
    signed 2024-10-24 11:23:05 -0600
  • Cindy Devine
    signed 2024-10-24 11:21:57 -0600
  • Angel Lynch
    signed via 2024-10-24 11:15:17 -0600
  • Alan Schappert
    signed 2024-10-24 10:52:57 -0600
  • Marj Van Camp
    signed 2024-10-24 10:49:43 -0600
  • Daniel Harder
    signed 2024-10-24 10:45:05 -0600
  • Nancy Chisholm
    signed 2024-10-24 10:38:22 -0600
  • Brad d'Haene
    signed 2024-10-24 10:36:35 -0600
  • Mike Bischke
    signed 2024-10-24 10:29:54 -0600
  • Caleb Langford
    signed 2024-10-24 10:29:29 -0600
  • Jim Taylor
    signed 2024-10-24 10:17:21 -0600
    Liljadahl can go back to his shithole country
  • Isabella Nelson
    signed 2024-10-24 10:14:57 -0600
  • Fayth Mantai
    signed 2024-10-24 09:59:53 -0600