I Don't Understand My 5 Year Olds Homework!!!

[Kovu]

My underpants have a label on the back saying 'No Entry'

My mate has a belt with the words "open 24 hours a day" on the buckle.

 

[Kovu]

Maths is taught differently now though. They do linear sums (24+24=) but we did it with the numbers on top of each other (can't display that!!)

It makes more complicated sums easier, apparantly.

My old high school maths teacher used to get annoyed at me because I had learnt it the 24
+24 (on top of each other) way and i couldn't get my mind around the whole 24+24 way at all.

 

[ChrisKH]

I recall being taught one way in reception and then the linear way in year one. Our teacher put a number of linear additions on the board and then expected us to write them down and answer them. I wrote them down but didn't have a clue about the answer (ie put after the equals sign) becuase I didn't understand what she was doing so she ripped the page of my book out and left me feeling quite ashamed. I hated maths after that and didn't really get on with it until, I was eleven.

Strange what you remember even after forty years.

 

[Kovu]

I recall being taught one way in reception and then the linear way in year one. Our teacher put a number of linear additions on the board and then expected us to write them down and answer them. I wrote them down but didn't have a clue about the answer (ie put after the equals sign) becuase I didn't understand what she was doing so she ripped the page of my book out and left me feeling quite ashamed. I hated maths after that and didn't really get on with it until, I was eleven.

Strange what you remember even after forty years.

Hated some of my teachers who did that. I just can't get my head around the linear additions, i have to have it in a column otherwise it won't go in. But my teachers never used to understand how I worked it out and couldn't do it the way they wanted it.

They also used to hate it when I worked something out, had the answer but none of my calculations and then they would get even mroe annoyed when they asked me how i had come to the answer and all I could say was "I don't know."

 

[marinyork]

I find this one way of doing things very odd. When you're younger and at school you think everybody does it the same way. You hit university and you realise even those who are interested in or very good at the same subject do things differently, that teachers can be so wrong on maths it's unreal. I remember a particularly illuminating tutorial when the Head of Department was asking about how people see and learn things. He was still interested in that after 35 years.

The only reason to do linear sums surely should be to save space on the paper. Other than that I shouldn't think it matters at all. To berate people seems childish, it is not in the spirit of maths at all.