So a victory was had yesterday for proponents of “real math” in the Seattle School District. In a ruling by Superior Court Judge Julie Specter, the Seattle School Board was called arbitrary and capricious for selecting the “inquiry-based” Discovering Series math for its high school math textbooks. The school board decision, by the way, was split 4 to 3.
When I was in school, we learned the equations, theories, whys and wherefores of math. We did all of our calculations with a pencil – there were no calculators. We learned why 1 + 1 equaled 2. We took algebra, geometry, trigonometry and calculus.
But somewhere along the way someone decided that math was being taught all wrong. So they came up with this so-called “discovery math”. This is where the students discover how to solve problems on their own. Unfortunately, the emphasis is on the discovery, not getting the right answer.
We had story problems too, but we had been taught the math skills necessary to solve the problems. Discovery math gives you the story problem, but leaves out the necessary skills to figure it out.
Here are a few of the published study results regarding Discovery math:
- Discovering Mathematics was found to be “mathematically unsound” by a textbook consultant hired by the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
- The San Diego School District adopted Discovering Mathematics a few years ago with disastrous results, and was forced to change textbooks at considerable cost.
- Professor Jack Lee of the University of Washington has stated: “Discovering Algebra and Discovering Geometry have too much verbiage and too little in the way of clearly stated mathematical principles. Definitions, computational algorithms, and formulas are vaguely stated if they are stated at all. Proofs, the essence of geometry are nearly absent. The program does not include enough practice for mastery. And parents will find them incomplete and confusing.”
- An independent international study of discovery based teaching methods states: “Although unguided or minimally guided instructional approaches are very popular and intuitively appealing, these approaches ignore evidence from empirical studies over the past half-century that consistently indicate that minimally guided instruction is less effective and less efficient than instructional approaches that place a strong emphasis on guidance of the student learning process.”
So congratulations to the people who stood up for good education for our future engineers, doctors, scientists, and yes, even lawyers. As my youngest son has noticed, regardless of the degree you want to pursue in college, you have to have math. And without a sound, fundamental education in basic math skills our students will continue to be unprepared.
