I would totally fail first grade math these days

[pokerfan]

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/12/do-you-understand-my.html

[Chan790]

1. What's hard about that?

8+3=10+1=11=********** *
9+3=10+2=12=********** **
7+4=10+1=11=********** *

Pie!

[pokerfan]

4. so any numbers work?

as long as the addition is correct? And then fill in the pictures to illustrate the first problem?

:shrug:

[Chan790]

5. Not quite.

They give you an equation. The first one was 8 + 3 = ?. They then give you 10+?=? you have to make the two equal and fill in the picture to demonstrate.

8+3=11 so ******** + *** is the same as ********** + * or 10 + 1.

It's so obvious that it's stupid and yet if you don't see it immediately, you'll rack your brain trying to figure it out.

They're all x+y=10+z and draw a picture, where x and y are given and z is not.

[pokerfan]

8. but the picture has the number the first equation

so how can it relate to the second equation?

[Chan790]

13. I can totally draw this, but cannot explain it well.

It's outrightly a bad assignment, nobody should have have to do this...it's nothing more than making algebra complex and then shoving it onto 1st graders.

As I said they give you x and y. They fill in x and tell you to fill in y. There are only 10 spaces in the array. Thus the ones that fall outside the first array go into the second array on the bottom...giving you a visual metric of how many (z) you have to add to ten to equal x+y.

[pokerfan]

14. like this?

[Chan790]

15. bingo.

Like I said...easy as could be. Dumbest assignment ever.

[LibertyLover]

18. Oh good grief - that's exactly like the worksheets

my daughter brings home. Why are they giving alegebra to 1st and 2nd graders?

[Dr. Strange]

19. I don't think they're teaching algebra exactly.

I think they're getting the students to add by using groups of ten, setting them up for grouping for when they start to add larger two- and three-digit numbers, and then subtracting by borrowing.

Which is why pokerfan was having such trouble with it--he keeps wanting to use groups of twelve because of his duodecimal numbering system.

[pokerfan]

20. LOL

Dr. Strange is a careful reader.

[LibertyLover]

21. On the sheets that my daughter comes home with they actually

say Algebra Problems in some of the sections. I think they are trying to desensitize the kids and have them working with the concept from an early age.

[TK421]

2. what the fuck am I looking at here?

what's with the chart? Why can't people just ask what 10+?=11? why the comparison next to it?

Are people fucked in the head today, or what?

edited to add: what are the brown circles for?

[Chan790]

6. Circles...

are for you to draw the math problem. Really, it's that dumb.

[pokerfan]

10. Got a Penny?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P53BU24WU88

[TK421]

9. well that's.....dumb!

:crazy:

[stray cat]

3. A 5/50 dilution is what dilution factor?

[pokerfan]

7. Richard's Feynman's favorite example of bad teaching...

when he was asked to review textbooks for the state of California.

Finally I come to a book that says, "Mathematics is used in science in many ways. We will give you an example from astronomy, which is the science of stars." I turn the page, and it says, "Red stars have a temperature of four thousand degrees, yellow stars have a temperature of five thousand degrees..." -- so far, so good. It continues: "Green stars have a temperature of seven thousand degrees, blue stars have a temperature of ten thousand degrees, and violet stars have a temperature of... (some big number)." There are no green or violet stars, but the figures for the others are roughly correct. It's vaguely right -- but already, trouble! That's the way everything was: Everything was written by somebody who didn't know what the hell he was talking about, so it was a little bit wrong, always! And how we are going to teach well by using books written by people who don't quite understand what they're talking about, I cannot understand. I don't know why, but the books are lousy; UNIVERSALLY LOUSY!

Anyway, I'm happy with this book, because it's the first example of applying arithmetic to science. I'm a bit unhappy when I read about the stars' temperatures, but I'm not very unhappy because it's more or less right -- it's just an example of error. Then comes the list of problems. It says, "John and his father go out to look at the stars. John sees two blue stars and a red star. His father sees a green star, a violet star, and two yellow stars. What is the total temperature of the stars seen by John and his father?" -- and I would explode in horror.

[Kali]

11. as long as they aren't teaching about monkeys turning into us.

:patriot:

[madrchsod]

12. i failed freshman math during my 5th year in high school

the teacher took me out in the hall and asked if i needed to pass to graduate! my wife,our daughter and i can barely add 2+2 but our two sons are math whiz's......

i have 95 community college credits but 0 math and science credits to get my degrees. what does a 62 year old political science major need math? :dunce:

[Roon]

16. Math was one of the many reasons I dropped out of High School

when I was 16.When I took my GED a couple of years later,my highest score was in math! Go figure..

[LibertyLover]

17. I feel your pain -

I can do my daughter's second grade math homework, but the way I do it and the way she is supposed to do it are two totally different things. Reminds me of doing my geometry homework in high school and my mom helping me. She'd figure it out her way and I'd figure out how I had to do it to get the answer the way we were being taught. The more things change, the more they remain the same.