Behind the Headline: The Common Core Makes Simple Math More Complicated. Here’s Why.

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The Common Core Makes Simple Math More Complicated. Here’s Why.
4/20/14 | Vox

Behind the Headline
The Common Core Math Standards: Are They a Step Forward or Backward?
Summer 2012 | Education Next

The Common Core math standards will require that elementary school kids not just to know how to subtract, multiply and divide, but to understand what they’re doing and why, notes Libby Nelson. The theory is that if students understand why they do math the way they do, they’ll be able to apply their skills more flexibly, she explains. Parents may be confused by the new math but math teachers are asking parents to please not try to teach kids the old way of doing math.

Two mathematicians, Ze’ev Wurman and Stephen Wilson, debate whether the Common Core math standards are a step forward or a step backward here.

-Education Next

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