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?

Barbara Burnett
Joann Byfield
Laurel Solheim
Peter Nestrovich
Darryl Kurylo
Genevieve Rudzki
Barry Sommers
Eileen Joyal
Herb Vleeming
Kevin Smith
Bruce Mcgloan
Vern Rempel
Hilje Feitsma
Lori Sperling
Andrew Marona
Marilyn Torell
Antoinette Hawkins
Kent Olsen
Graham Bush
Fay Matlock
John West
Mavis Welsh
Lorita Janzen
Charles Phelps
Deborah White
Cliff Schneider
Michelle Vessey
Matt Loggie
Jim Hewitt
Ejvind Poulsen

Showing 1187 comments

  • Barbara Burnett
    signed 2024-10-23 22:23:26 -0600
    I worked as a bookkeeper for many years and was training a young lady to take over my position. She struggled with adding two numbers together. Very sad plus an ordinary adding machine stubbed her.
  • Joann Byfield
    signed via 2024-10-23 22:20:59 -0600
  • Laurel Solheim
    signed 2024-10-23 22:05:52 -0600
  • Peter Nestrovich
    signed 2024-10-23 22:04:18 -0600
  • Darryl Kurylo
    signed 2024-10-23 22:01:50 -0600
  • Genevieve Rudzki
    signed 2024-10-23 21:56:10 -0600
  • Barry Sommers
    signed 2024-10-23 21:53:52 -0600
  • Eileen Joyal
    signed 2024-10-23 21:52:16 -0600
  • Herb Vleeming
    signed 2024-10-23 21:43:17 -0600
  • Kevin Smith
    signed 2024-10-23 21:34:00 -0600
  • Bruce Mcgloan
    signed 2024-10-23 21:33:06 -0600
  • Vern Rempel
    signed 2024-10-23 21:32:18 -0600
  • Hilje Feitsma
    signed 2024-10-23 21:31:22 -0600
  • Lori Sperling
    signed 2024-10-23 21:27:51 -0600
  • Andrew Marona
    signed 2024-10-23 21:26:16 -0600
  • Marilyn Torell
    signed 2024-10-23 21:10:01 -0600
  • Antoinette Hawkins
    signed 2024-10-23 21:01:55 -0600
  • Kent Olsen
    signed 2024-10-23 20:59:53 -0600
  • Graham Bush
    signed 2024-10-23 20:58:38 -0600
  • Fay Matlock
    signed 2024-10-23 20:58:34 -0600
  • John West
    signed 2024-10-23 20:57:31 -0600
  • Mavis Welsh
    signed 2024-10-23 20:57:21 -0600
  • Lorita Janzen
    signed 2024-10-23 20:54:43 -0600
  • Charles Phelps
    signed 2024-10-23 20:53:40 -0600
    Canadian children over the past couple of decades have been falling behind other countries in science and math. That should tell our teachers something about these fads!!!
  • Deborah White
    signed 2024-10-23 20:44:40 -0600
  • Cliff Schneider
    signed 2024-10-23 20:43:30 -0600
    Let’s get back to the basics. The 3 Rs
  • Michelle Vessey
    signed 2024-10-23 20:37:54 -0600
  • Matt Loggie
    signed 2024-10-23 20:34:15 -0600
  • Jim Hewitt
    signed 2024-10-23 20:33:32 -0600
  • Ejvind Poulsen
    signed 2024-10-23 20:32:47 -0600