
Why every 10-year-old can emulate this iconic gameshow moment - fjmubeen
https://medium.com/@fjmubeen/why-every-10-year-old-can-emulate-this-iconic-gameshow-moment-d0576a91f235#.vf1q3d6jm
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timthorn
"Yes, multiplication tables are important — students will be hampered if they
don’t know the basics. But any policy that forces students to learn these
properties by rote is hopelessy out of touch with society’s needs. We must
nurture flexible minds that can apply number skills to solve novel problems"

I don't see why learning tables by rote is opposed to nurturing flexible minds
and building deep understanding - which I also see as critical. How else are
children to learn tables (or even the alphabet) if not by rote?

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edtechdev
He's probably hinting at a debate about whether or not we should force kids to
memorize the times tables by a certain age, which Jo Boaler (math education
researcher) argues against: [https://www.youcubed.org/fluency-without-
fear/](https://www.youcubed.org/fluency-without-fear/)

Because it makes math solely about memorization and doesn't involve number
sense (discussed in the original article, too), and causes anxiety for those
students who struggle to shallowly memorize the table. See also work on
'growth mindset' vs. 'fixed mindset'. When or if students make mistakes at
memorizing, they might simply give up and think they just can't do math.

I don't think it's an either/or - you can introduce the tables, but do so in
funner or more subtle ways. As an example of the latter, I was in a combined
2nd & 3rd grade class. We weren't supposed to learn multiplication until 3rd
grade. There was a huge times table on one of the walls that I'd walk by
several times a day all year in 2nd grade. Gradually I'd get curious about the
patterns I saw in the table. I never 'memorized' it (until 3rd grade when we
had to), but I felt like I had begun to understand it and how it 'worked'
after repeated exposure to it.

But I like the idea of the original author to make games about it. Another
idea is to have students create their own tables.

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timthorn
I think you misrepresent growth mindset theory - it argues that learners with
a growth mindset understand that when they find things hard, that's when
they're learning. I was at a talk by Dweck last year where she was arguing
that her research has been misunderstood by large numbers of the teaching
profession and is trying hard to communicate the proper interpretation.

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edtechdev
I think you missed the word "also" in my comment: "See also work on 'growth
mindset' vs. 'fixed mindset'"

That's all I said about growth mindset in my comment. For a good explanation
of growth mindset, I usually show faculty and college students this video as a
start:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN34FNbOKXc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN34FNbOKXc)

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fjmubeen
Thanks for your interest in my article. I certainly believe there's a place
for rote, as your examples highlight. But to apply their knowledge of number
in the real world, students need to combine their procedural skills with an
understanding of how numbers behave and relate to one another. Indeed,
understanding and context aid memory even if that is the ultimate goal. As
does engagement - which rote learning, as practiced in most schools, largely
dispenses with.

