Over lunch, I grew increasingly panicky at the thought of sending my kids to school in Singapore. It's not a new fear but every now and again, I am reminded of how much I'll hate having to subject my kids to it and how I'll be stressed and inadvertently stress them out.
This afternoon's topic of conversation was the recent but yearly and to-be-expected uproar over the PSLE Math paper (do not scroll to the bottom if you want to try the question because the answer is there)
"Jim bought some chocolates and gave half of it to Ken. Ken bought some sweets and gave half of it to Jim. Jim ate 12 sweets and Ken ate 18 chocolates. The ratio of Jim’s sweets to chocolates became 1:7 and the ratio of Ken’s sweets to chocolates became 1:4. How many sweets did Ken buy?"
My brain shut down after Ken bought some sweets. Anyway, 12 year-olds are expected to solve this. How? I don't know.
Not bad enough, I was also duly informed that when what 6+8 is, 14 is incorrect.
6+8 has to first, = 10+4 and then subsequently= 14
11+11 has to first, = 10+1+10+1 = 20+ 2 before arriving at 22.
If the child had the audacity to skip from 6+8 to 14, he would be marked wrong. Which is terrible because it's a) the CORRECT answer and b) insisting that the child can ONLY do it ONE way and that's why we're so screwed and complain that the graduates we produce can only think ONE way.
What do they expect when their primary school math insists on teaching them there is only ONE way to derive the answer?
It's annoying and it's worrying.
Technorati Tags: children, Singapore, primary school, education
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Illogical math
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(do not scroll to the bottom if you want to try the question because the answer is there)
ReplyDeleteThe answer is not there! Fortunately, I know the answer, it's 3 million. Ken bought 3 million sweets. He's bent on getting tooth decay so he gets to see his handsome dentist for the next 12 months. Now the real question is: How many hours does Ken spend each day in the dentist chair if he had bought 3 million sweets and his dentist is 39 years old?
Erm, actually hor, the addition thing you mentioned, is taught in P1 lah. It's actually teaching them to do mental sums more quickly. So instead of what they will do at that age, which is to use fingers, and some will run out... they are taught to regroup so that they can easily add. They actually have a mental sums bit in their exams too. It's not really illogical. It actually teaches them to count in a way many of us think when we do addition mentally.
ReplyDeleteSince I have a P3 kid struggling to do exams, I do feel that some of what they teach would have come naturally as they mature and they become more flexible in their teaching anyway, and instead of trying to force them to see it in all the different conceptually based ways, they should just drill methods first... cos it's all so confusing for them. Ah well...
For a question like this, the best way to solve is to use algebra (and solving simultaneous equations), which I think even some of the secondary school students can't do them.
ReplyDeleteSo the best thing is to teach your child algebra in P6, and all that crap about using pictures and guesswork and whatever they're supposed to use in p6 maths goes down the drain.
Trust me, my father taught me algebra in P6 to tackle such problems for my PSLE.
JPB: if the kids are supposed to use mental sums to do those questions, then no working need to be shown ya? So why are they marking down the kids if their working don't show what they want?
And i know it's not illogical because such questions are actually a precursor to learning algebra in sec 1, but if the question is badly phrased and the kids didn't know that they are supposed to break the numbers down like that, then it's the questions' fault right?
and trust me, there are a lot of 'badly phrased' questions in primary school maths. (compared with cambridge 'o' level standards)
Lysithea - the question in question (heh) is taken from a point in the text where they are still teaching the children the steps towards doing it all mentally. If I'm not wrong, it's actually found nearer the beginning of the P1 syllabus, where they are still teaching number bonding. So in order to teach it, they have to set the questions that way lor. Later on, during the end of the year exams, and even in P2, there will be mental sums where they are not required to show working. :)
ReplyDeleteAh yes, badly phrased questions. It's scary that just about anyone with a basic degree can write an assessment book these days you know? Complete with bad english and really, stuff that doesn't make sense. Just the other day, I was moaning and groaning over this in my son P3 book. Sigh.
I don't know the original presentation of the question ondine is citing, but from what I've seen in my children's books, it's obvious when a question is a number bonding one... so if your child (and you) have been keeping up with what is going on in the textbooks, you ought to be able to spot a number bonding question a mile away, because they always require you to split the numbers up. It's only when someone who doesn't have a kid who has gone through that looks at it, that the question looks ridiculous. When I first saw that kind of question before my eldest started P sch, I reacted the same way. After seeing number bonding in the context of the whole syllabus, it actually makes sense... because it is truly laborious to watch children try to add with fingers and toes when they could use something as simple as regrouping the numbers.
jpb: if it's faster to count using fingers and/or toes than to use number bonding, then what is wrong with counting with fingers and toes? Just teach them to count faster! And what if some kids say 6+8=14! I memorize it! How?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, they're going to be using calculators very soon. I think the problem is the inflexibility of how things can be done, although the education system is supposed to be moving away from that, ya?
hurhurhur, Lysithea, it's obvious we are from two very different camps lah... so let's just agree to disagree! :) Peace....
ReplyDelete6+8=10 and one way to prove it is first off is to square everything so (^2)(6+8=10) so u will get 6^2 + 8^2= 10^2 ----- witch is (36)+(64)=(100) so when you. √ the whole problem u get 6+8=10
ReplyDelete