How the Math Gets Done: Why Parents Don't Need to Worry about New vs. Old Math

by Catheryne Draper

Overview

How the Math Gets Done: Why Parents Don't Need to Worry About New vs. Old Math provides a roadmap to understanding what the symbols for math operations (add, subtract, multiply, and divide) really mean, what the clues are to interpret these symbols, and a kind of short story of how they evolved over time. to decipher the enigmatic squiggles of those verbs called operations.
How the Math Gets Done: Why Parents Don't Need to Worry About New vs. Old Math
compares the old and the new methods for math procedures from a “Big Idea” perspective by organizing the information in four sections: Definition, Organization, Relationships and Patterns, and Connections. Each section contains three chapters that clarify the issues related to each “Big Idea” section. The Conclusion offers parents even more hints and guidelines to help their child through this “math country” of procedures for calculating in math.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781475834246
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	10/20/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	182
File size:	14 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Catheryne Draper has been learning from her students for over half a century of teaching, supervising the math program in a school district, advising math education at the state level, coaching math in schools, and presenting math workshops for teachers.

She is the author of The Algebra Game, a hands-on multi-deck algebra program in four topics covering Linear Graphs, Quadratic Equations, Conic Sections, and Trig Functions that allows students to work together in cooperative groups, or individually, to identify the algebra relationships and patterns in the each topic and in the organization across the topics. In addition to contributing many published articles, Draper is also the author of Winning the Math Homework Challenge: Insights for Parents To See Math Differently and User-Friendly Math for Parents: Learning and Understanding the Language of Numbers is Key.

Table of Contents

Foreword
PrefaceIntroductionPart I. Definition 1. Math According to Jen, Bobby, and Others
Jen’s Deductions
Bobby’s Experience with Multiplication and Number Arrangements
Children’s Descriptions About Making Sense
Trevor and Jim Invent Their Own Multiplication Methods
Keep in Mind
2. Math Grammar of Nouns, Verbs, and Stories
“Putting Together” Verbs for Addition and Multiplication
“Taking Apart” Verbs for Subtraction and Division
A Short Interlude About the Use of that Negative Sign
Word Problems Put Math Verbs in Stories Keep in Mind
3. A Choice between Two Rs – Rote Memorization or Reasoning
Sound Bites That Bite Back
Memorization vs. Organization
Acronyms - Sense or Nonsense
Keep in Mind
Part II. Organization
4. In Search of Like Terms, Classification Revisited
Like Terms, Common Denominators, and Same Units Place Value Columns Have Like Terms Categories What’s Wrong with this Picture?Adding PercentagesA Note About Multiplication and Division Keep in Mind
5. Artful Assembly of Operations Facts, Frogs, and Formats
Jackie’s Thinking About Number Operations
James, Janie, and Napier’s Lattice Multiplication
Division Interpretations That Made Sense
Keep in Mind
6. Same Math, Same Meaning, Different Organization – New vs. Old
“If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It.”
Multiplication Organization Sense
Digit Alignment Continues
Zeke, Jake, and Long Division
Keep in Mind
Part III. Relationships and Patterns7. “Seeing” Math Patterns with Viewfinders
Multiplication Table Patterns
Addition Table Patterns
Kathy’s and Rudy’s Fraction Viewfinders
Keep in Mind
8. Spelunking for Patterns with More Viewfinders
Reflections on Addition and Multiplication
Subtraction, Division, and Missy’s “Different Family”
A Few Rules of Engagement for Working with Numbers
Keep in Mind
9. Functions, Predictability, and Balance
Predictability and FunctionsOne Answer or Many Answers, Same Balance Keep in Mind
Part IV. Connections10. A Multiplication Area Image for the Ages
From Theon to Dienes – A Bridge Across the Centuries
Same Design for Mixed Numbers, Fractions and Decimals
Visual-Spatial Multi-Digit Multiplication
Keep in Mind
11. Ratios, Proportions, and Rate of Change
Fractions as Gatekeepers
David’s Decluttering Fractions
Changing Numbers, Changing Locations, and Moving Targets in Proportions
Slope as a Rate of Change
Keep in Mind
12. Algebraic Thinking
The Shapes for an Algebra Transition
From Multiplication Tables to Coordinate Tables
Jill’s Graphic Solutions
F.O.I.L.’ed Again
Keep in Mind
Conclusion: What Parents Can Do
Problem Solving Beyond Word Problems
Right Tool for the Right Job - A Hard Look At Technology
Keep in Mind
Glossary
References
About the Author

Editorial Reviews

How the Math Gets Done is not a quick fix to raise the child's math grade for tomorrow’s test, but about deciphering the child's thinking and establishing real math understanding for the long haul. Once a kid is in trouble, parents will not feel there is time to immediately get to the bottom of the issues, so they may want to skip around the book to locate the particular topic that is giving their child difficulty. This is the book that will wake parents (and teachers) up to the notion that multiple strategies are helpful and that opportunities for misunderstandings are lying in the path like so many land mines!” —Ann Hammond McCamy, Parent and Assistant Director, Delmont Public Library. Former curriculum writer for Lambert Book House, Education Coordinator at The House of the Seven Gables, and public and private school teacher

“Oh my goodness, this book is brilliant and so helpful. As an educator and a mother, I can't help thinking that this is a book for everyone not just parents. How the Math Gets Done spotlights and breaks down into understandable nuggets the most intimate mathematical thinking of our children. While illuminating for us their understandings and misunderstandings, it pushes us -the adults- to think our very own understandings in the most non-threatening way, so that we can support our kids.” —Regine Philippeaux-Pierre, Mother of Two Children, Director, Excellence for All, Boston Public Schools

From the Publisher

How the Math Gets Done is not a quick fix to raise the child's math grade for tomorrow’s test, but about deciphering the child's thinking and establishing real math understanding for the long haul. Once a kid is in trouble, parents will not feel there is time to immediately get to the bottom of the issues, so they may want to skip around the book to locate the particular topic that is giving their child difficulty. This is the book that will wake parents (and teachers) up to the notion that multiple strategies are helpful and that opportunities for misunderstandings are lying in the path like so many land mines!

Ann Hammond McCamy

Oh my goodness, this book is brilliant and so helpful. As an educator and a mother, I can't help thinking that this is a book for everyone not just parents. How the Math Gets Done spotlights and breaks down into understandable nuggets the most intimate mathematical thinking of our children. While illuminating for us their understandings and misunderstandings, it pushes us -the adults- to think our very own understandings in the most non-threatening way, so that we can support our kids.

Regine Philippeaux-Pierre