I read an
article today criticizing the University of Chicago's "Everyday Math" program. They portrayed it as a touchy-feely, low-content, "fuzzy math" program that prevented students from learning anything useful about math. It's apparently plagued with questions like "If math were a color, it would be _______ because ________."
The program's
web site has a gallery of student work, some of which does seem to be silly and low-content.
This is a drawing by a kindergartener of what appears to be a beta fish.
Not bad, and probably an age-appropriate activity using geometric shapes.
This, however, is by a 5th grader. WTF??
Other stuff was rather impressive given the age groups.
This was made by a 1st grader. Notice how he demonstrated the relationship between 2s and 4s in various ways, even using division. I was in the gifted program at my school, and I didn't touch division until I think the 4th grade.
Other projects included an algorithm for dividing numbers by 5, letters sent to the University of Chicago criticizing their use of 4.10 after 4.9 in chapter headings (these appeared to be form-letterish, as if the teacher prompted them what to write), and a 5th grader's detailed plan for allocating $1 million in expenses for taking care of homeless people during the holidays (I'm not sure where you can buy 5 pairs of panties for 100 women all for $300, but I don't know the wholesale market that well either).
Anyway, I teach GMAT and GRE math to adults who often times don't know the very basics, and it's troubling. These people probably learned under a more traditional system, but it didn't work. The article accuses teachers of just handing out useless worksheets, which I could see as a problem under any system. I'm just curious if anyone was familiar with the "Everyday Math" program and if it's really just fluff, "new math" revisited, or something that might actually be beneficial to students.
Discuss.