Eureka Math/Common Core Math
I have received many questions and comments from parents, community members,and even my own husband on “this new math”, and I’m sure many of you have even seen posts on Facebook showing how much longer it takes to solve a problem using Common Core math strategies as compared to traditional math procedure. Telling people that our new math curriculum is about providing students with conceptual knowledge, so they are able to use strategies and tools such as pictures and models, as well as solve problems using mental math and have enough number sense to know if the answer they got is reasonable, doesn’t seem to always be enough to convince people that the new way is better than the traditional way they were taught. The reason really hit home with me last week when my son called to tell me about an interview he had for a financial analyst position. I asked him what type of questions he was asked. He told me they panel he interviewed with wanted to see how he was able to problem solve and think on his feet. So, he was asked what ½ of ⅕ was. He had to not only give an answer but then had to show them how he came up with the answer and explain either verbally or by writing it out on the dry erase board in the conference room in which he was interviewing. He was next asked what the measurement of the angle of the hour and the minute hand is when it is 3:15. He said this was a little more difficult, and he had to draw a model and explain to solve. He got the answer wrong, but they said they weren’t really looking for the correct answer, they were looking for how he would go about solving the problem. This is not to say getting the correct answer in math is not important, because we all know in most circumstances it is. But only knowing procedure is not helpful when you do get the wrong answer and do not any other way to figure out how to solve a problem, or do not know how to find where you made the mistake, or don’t even realize if your answer is reasonable or not.
This is why we chose Eureka Math.