A recent “Opinion” piece in Time Magazine extolling the merits of having students learn “old school basics” got us thinking about some of the challenges we see students facing, particularly in mathematics. It may seem obvious to state that having a solid foundation in math basics is an essential component in mathematics success. However, in today’s often hotly debated academic world where opinions about “what should be taught and how” vary widely, we thought it was worth commenting that based on experiences, we tend to agree with the thrust of the opinion where math is concerned.
While there is room for plenty of debate about HOW to best teach students these underlying facts, we have found over time that the greater facility with said facts leads to a much deeper understanding of the more challenging and abstract material that students meet when they navigate courses in Algebra, Statistics and Calculus.
Approaches to math which have de-emphasized fact mastery are many. We have found that while it is certainly desirable to cultivate an attitude of discovery and exploration in mathematics, those approaches which emphasize the aforementioned at the expense of fact mastery often end up short-changing students in the long run.
Having facility with math facts, including mastery of adding and subtracting positive and negative numbers, combined with a strong understanding of fractions concepts can be thought of as the mathematical equivalent of the steel that reinforces concrete in building foundations and roads. Without the strong, underlying structure, the height of the building will be limited or the traffic capacity of the road will be diminished. Math fact mastery is very much like a mesh of wire, where the intersection points serve as anchors for building a strong surrounding matrix. Put yet another way, math facts fluency is like the lattice on which a flourishing plant may grow and form in ways that it simply cannot without the underlying support.
In our work with students, we often witness struggles in abstract math classes that more often times than not we can eventually directly trace to a student’s lack of facility with basic math facts. We strongly urge parents to pay close attention to your young student’s facility with “the basics.” If he or she struggles with these, it is important to try to engage as much additional help as a school or other resources can provide. Familiarity with basic math facts is NOT the same thing as mastery, so we urge students to review these concepts if they are not already mastered.
What do you think?
