Common Core Math Doesn't Make Sense!

Common core math (new math) is not what we learned in school. Why can't I help my third grader with his or her homework? Why do we need a new way to do math? Well, there might be a reason for it, and I might be able to help. Let me explain!

#clintexplains #commoncore #newmath

[laurelei]

I'm 50 and past the time I could've used your help to help my kids with their homework, but I would love to learn it for ME. Clint, if you teach it, we will come.

[jeremiahsaxton]

When people start complaining about common core, I like to show them Tom Lerher's "New Math" a song that came out in the 1950's when schools started teaching math the way we learned it growing up.

Also fun fact, the Incredibles was set during that time period, so that's what Mr. Incredible is complaining about in the second movie with Dash's math homework

[Commy]

In my math classes, it didn't matter if you got the question right- if you didn't do it their way, it was counted as wrong.

[Aima]

One of the things I wish (as a teacher of maths) the internet had more of was real life maths content. Whenever you set up an enclosure or budget for a new reptile you carry out a lot of maths in the process - particularly if you're building something from scratch like you did for your big tortoise. A section of the channel that broke this process down or linked other things you encounter in your profession to a common core standard would be brilliant.

[MrsVrba]

Thank you from a 4th grade teacher for explaining this! The only thing I might have added to the video would be a short demonstration of what it means when you say “it shows why math works.” Something simple, like basic multiplication vs. repeated addition. There are still a LOT of folks out there who feel that rote memorization is the only way to go!

[critterlovermaria]

As someone who volunteered as a tutor for a non-profit back in the day, I would definitely find a video on Common Core Math extremely helpful. I remember when tutoring children having to search YouTube for videos to explain it to me, and there weren’t that many then.

I think a lot of reasons adults have problems with Common Core is like you said, understanding math is key to remembering, and sometimes I feel the adults don’t understand why they present those options so they can’t follow along and help their kids. Having that resource to show the adults the “why” behind it would be invaluable!

[choirmeyer]

Hi there - Being laid up, I have had the opp to really enjoy this channel & Clint's Reptiles. This article hits me pretty deep. I have also helped a lot of students (and adults) get through tests, graduations, and job proficency exams. The subject: Why word problems are included / related to what is being learned / additive to the whole system of mathematics and any subject related (yeah, chemistry stoichiometry). And while some can perhaps track these steps mentally, they are also good for those who need a visualization/breakdown. 0. Ung! A word problem. 1. What info is it giving you. 2. Simply, what is it asking for? (3. graph/visual if you need to doodle )4. What are you learning/have you learned that gets you what you're being asked for? Which leads to 5. the equation you're going to use. Great. Now you've got the equation and the values to plug in. And you're done being lost into the ether that you fell into after you could no longer just 'solve them in your head, without knowing why it worked.' Has served on so many levels - myself, and others in my little circle. [Also - seeing the current way word problems are taught currently is each thing is its own separate problem/method... OUCH. I would never make it through. I mean better than no attempt being made, but still OUCH!'

[emmahill]

Adding to the comments below, but I'd appreciate additional math videos. I was taught to memorize math and chemistry in the lower grades, and then when I got to college I really struggled with those topics. I knew higher level facts, but I was missing foundational material. As an adult, I think it would be really neat to fire up those topics again, but with an eye toward forgotten foundations.

[zaneswift]

Clint I’m a 21 year old dad trying to give my child the most complete understanding of the world possible. I can guarantee that a breakdown of fundamental mathematics, even a bit beyond multiplication and division into exponents and fractions would be extremely valuable

[sarahbeaulieu]

My kids school's only teach common core. I wasn't good at math in school and my 5th grader is always frustrated because I don't get what they are teaching her and can't help. I showed my husband who is on the spectrum and great at math, he laughed and said that's how he did math and his teachers always marked him wrong when he had to show his work even though the answer was correct.

[yoshi]

I had that problem in college, teachers always though I was cheating despite that I never cheating in a exam in all of my life, i changed career in end out of frustration.

[davidwebster]

Way back in the sixties, we found that there is a reasonable middle ground.

[gergelyszabo]

Based on the thumbnail I was expecting Clint to explain complex numbers as the missing group ... lol

[jackmahkimetas]

Arithmetic is arithmetic, is arithmetic.
The goal is to get the right answer.
The old-fashioned long-hand algorithmic methods work just fine.
Why make it more complicated than it needs to be?

[cerberaodollam]

I wonder how it would work for me if I was in school now. Dyscalculia was a pain in my neck. (It kinda still is, I get lost easily so I have to pay extra attention to where I'm going.)

[natewilliams]

As a parent of a kindergartener, I would absolutely love to learn all of the above. I've always been good with math, but I'm out of practice.

[virginiahansen]

Since the primary education system has lost its mind on social and political issues, I'm now stuck homeschooling. So I'd REALLY appreciate some help with math!

[TheYgds]

Hmmm. Not sure how to think about this. I'm from Canada, so things are a bit different here, but I have some thoughts On one hand, I work with people from India, where elementary school kids memorize their times-tables out to 35 instead of just 12, and perform far better in mathematics than anyone raised over here. They memorize and are drilled on a constant basis, and don't forget. They are efficient and understand the math intimately, without ever utilizing the more complexified ways I see kids learning today. I also tutored students for a good amount of time and found the same thing as Clint, where doing simple multiplication and division was difficult for them. I also found they were doing the same math in grades 7, 8 and 9. Same types and complexity of problems. The curriculum didn't progress them along in a way that was commensurate with the advancing of grade level. In all cases, I found that the kids were no longer memorizing times tables or how to do long division, not to mention basic number theory and a host of other fundamentals. I taught a girl who was in high school math who didn't know how many seconds were in a minute, or how many minutes in an hour or how many hours in a day! Somehow, she was doing grade 10 math and physics. This is really basic, and really bad. Her ability to abstract principles was almost non-existent, same with a lot of the other kids I worked with. They could only handle learning one method, one algorithm and one class of problems at a time. Not for lack of training, but really for lack of ability.

We aren't all like Clint, in fact most aren't. Deriving mathematical principles, abstracting them and then applying them to different situations is something a lot of people can't do, and certainly don't do intuitively. To try and give kids who can barely handle one method of doing mathematical operations, several doesn't help and often makes things worse (believe me I tried). Doing things differently just confuses them, and literally causes headaches, frustration and eventually despair. Trying to make things fun is probably the worst approach I found, that just ticks them off. I only ever found that drilling and constant practice worked. Daily at a minimum. Heaven help you when the kid has dyscalculia, where the existence of abstract mathematical concepts is totally unreachable in many cases, only with very diligent work and effort.

I don't, know, just had a totally different experience. I found most kids just didn't have it in them to intuit math, and the only solution was a firm and persistent drilling in the basics.

[Charlotte.M.S]

What I personally really benefit from would be a clintefied explanation of Limes. What is that? What can you do with it and how? What does the result even mean?

[jan-hendrikmoritz]

I studied physics but broke up because it was too wild back than, but when my girlfriend startet in computer science I startet teaching her as much as I taught myself. One of the most memorable moments were, when I solved a proplem I could not solve back than and explain why it works. So yeah keep them coming :D