Why “new math” and what is it?

While math seems like it was“quicker” and “easier” to learn back in the day, students were not being taught to be problem solvers or critical thinkers. The emphasis in math was on the answer and not on the method. Students learned tricks and shortcuts without knowing the premise of how they came to be and why they work. These shortcuts are great until they don’t work anymore because a child encounters a problem that doesn’t look the exact same. As students get older and encounter more complex math concepts, all of sudden they get stuck and it’s because they were not taught to generalize. They don’t understand the relationships between numbers and weren’t taught how to make sense of math. This way of teaching was doing more harm than good and did not equip the students with a flexible mind to make generalizations or prepare the students for the real world of problem solving. It limited students’ potential.

MATH IS MORE THAN JUST WORKSHEETS

The Big Picture