Why every 10-year-old can emulate this iconic gameshow moment | Hacker News Reader

Why every 10-year-old can emulate this iconic gameshow moment

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10 pointsfjmubeen6 comments

"Yes, multiplication tables are important — students will be hampered if they don’t know the basics. But any policy that forces students to learn these properties by rote is hopelessy out of touch with society’s needs. We must nurture flexible minds that can apply number skills to solve novel problems"

I don't see why learning tables by rote is opposed to nurturing flexible minds and building deep understanding - which I also see as critical. How else are children to learn tables (or even the alphabet) if not by rote?

He's probably hinting at a debate about whether or not we should force kids to memorize the times tables by a certain age, which Jo Boaler (math education researcher) argues against: https://www.youcubed.org/fluency-without-fear/

Because it makes math solely about memorization and doesn't involve number sense (discussed in the original article, too), and causes anxiety for those students who struggle to shallowly memorize the table. See also work on 'growth mindset' vs. 'fixed mindset'. When or if students make mistakes at memorizing, they might simply give up and think they just can't do math.

I don't think it's an either/or - you can introduce the tables, but do so in funner or more subtle ways. As an example of the latter, I was in a combined 2nd & 3rd grade class. We weren't supposed to learn multiplication until 3rd grade. There was a huge times table on one of the walls that I'd walk by several times a day all year in 2nd grade. Gradually I'd get curious about the patterns I saw in the table. I never 'memorized' it (until 3rd grade when we had to), but I felt like I had begun to understand it and how it 'worked' after repeated exposure to it.

But I like the idea of the original author to make games about it. Another idea is to have students create their own tables.

I think you misrepresent growth mindset theory - it argues that learners with a growth mindset understand that when they find things hard, that's when they're learning. I was at a talk by Dweck last year where she was arguing that her research has been misunderstood by large numbers of the teaching profession and is trying hard to communicate the proper interpretation.

I think you missed the word "also" in my comment: "See also work on 'growth mindset' vs. 'fixed mindset'"

That's all I said about growth mindset in my comment. For a good explanation of growth mindset, I usually show faculty and college students this video as a start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN34FNbOKXc

I agree. Knowing some things by rote is essential for the practical ability to estimate answers to problems quickly and/or recompose math problems as simpler components.

For example on my way to work at the 14th station I wanted to know how many blocks walk it was to the office on 33rd. I know that 14 is close to 15, and 33 is close to 30, and I know that 15 + 15 is 30.

So this allows me to quickly recompose the problem as 1 + 15 + 3 = 19, which gives me the answer practically instantly with no calculator or manual math mechanics required.

This wouldn't be possible without knowing that 15 is half of 30.

Thanks for your interest in my article. I certainly believe there's a place for rote, as your examples highlight. But to apply their knowledge of number in the real world, students need to combine their procedural skills with an understanding of how numbers behave and relate to one another. Indeed, understanding and context aid memory even if that is the ultimate goal. As does engagement - which rote learning, as practiced in most schools, largely dispenses with.

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