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?

Kane Russell
Phoebe Strain
Keith McCall
Susanne Leveille
Daniel Sheridan
Maureen Stankievech
Linda Pawlowitsch
Sandy Giles
Jody Raines
Robyn Marriott
Sherry Ginther
Robert Craigen
Laurie Schmidt
erica sandberg
Miriam Mahood
Keith Strong
Dennis Sundgaard
Steve Chapple
Angela Spicer
Aleks Johnston
Pam Kerekanich
Bj Steffensen
Doug Gregg
Darlene Hoogstraten
Judy Saskiw
Jim Ridley
Sheri Gregg
J. Budd
Floyd Wollum
Randy Karren

Showing 1187 comments

  • Kane Russell
    signed 2024-10-24 06:17:06 -0600
  • Phoebe Strain
    signed 2024-10-24 06:03:06 -0600
  • Keith McCall
    signed 2024-10-24 05:02:39 -0600
  • Susanne Leveille
    signed 2024-10-24 04:50:46 -0600
  • Daniel Sheridan
    signed 2024-10-24 04:37:35 -0600
  • Maureen Stankievech
    signed 2024-10-24 04:13:43 -0600
    Math is the cornerstone of most of life’s foundational principles and concepts. From my own experience teachers need to spend more time than one semester on it as well!
  • Linda Pawlowitsch
    signed 2024-10-24 04:11:08 -0600
  • Sandy Giles
    signed 2024-10-24 03:11:03 -0600
  • Jody Raines
    signed 2024-10-24 02:41:19 -0600
  • Robyn Marriott
    signed 2024-10-24 01:48:17 -0600
  • Sherry Ginther
    signed 2024-10-24 01:43:05 -0600
  • Robert Craigen
    signed 2024-10-24 00:12:29 -0600
    I spent in Alberta at the University of Lethbridge teaching math, but later as a Math Professor in Manitoba I became aware of the disastrous turn in K-12 math education across Western Canada and got into advocacy, returning to Alberta to speak about this some years ago. The same educationally toxic agenda continues to today, just rebranding every time it’s called out. Enough. Return to teaching math.
  • Laurie Schmidt
    signed 2024-10-24 00:08:38 -0600
  • erica sandberg
    signed 2024-10-24 00:04:55 -0600
  • Miriam Mahood
    signed 2024-10-23 23:27:23 -0600
  • Keith Strong
    signed 2024-10-23 23:23:54 -0600
  • Dennis Sundgaard
    signed 2024-10-23 23:19:33 -0600
  • Steve Chapple
    signed 2024-10-23 23:14:02 -0600
  • Angela Spicer
    signed 2024-10-23 23:01:18 -0600
  • Aleks Johnston
    signed 2024-10-23 22:47:40 -0600
  • Pam Kerekanich
    signed 2024-10-23 22:45:37 -0600
  • Bj Steffensen
    signed 2024-10-23 22:44:26 -0600
    Memorizing DOES WORK!!
  • Doug Gregg
    signed 2024-10-23 22:41:01 -0600
  • Darlene Hoogstraten
    signed 2024-10-23 22:40:29 -0600
  • Judy Saskiw
    signed 2024-10-23 22:39:45 -0600
  • Jim Ridley
    signed 2024-10-23 22:38:04 -0600
  • Sheri Gregg
    signed 2024-10-23 22:34:14 -0600
  • J. Budd
    signed 2024-10-23 22:32:21 -0600
  • Floyd Wollum
    signed 2024-10-23 22:24:34 -0600
  • Randy Karren
    signed 2024-10-23 22:24:28 -0600