DailyDirt: Arithmetic Is The Third R?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

International math tests seem to consistently show that Americans don't have competitive math skills. We can argue that these tests don't measure real-life capabilities, but it might also be nice to see math test scores rise someday. Given the growth of online educational tools, the accessibility of good (and effective) math lessons will hopefully help to improve everyone's math talents. Here are just a few interesting links on the topic of math. If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.
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Filed Under: arithmetic, education, equations, gamification, math, textbooks


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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2013 @ 6:31pm

    international testing

    what does it mean to have an average math score for a nation to rank number one versus thirty-one? how can you average millions (or thousands) of kids' math scores on a single test and make policy decisions based on that....?!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Michael Ho (profile), 15 Jan 2013 @ 3:12pm

      Re: international testing

      This article addresses some of the problems with international testing:
      http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/january/test-scores-ranking-011513.html

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 14 Feb 2013 @ 6:58pm

        Re: Re: international testing

        oh it's the test not the stupidity of the populace !!!!

        yes, the problem with international testing is you are tested and compared to other countries. And it shows up just how poor your educational system is.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 16 Feb 2013 @ 3:48pm

        Re: Re: international testing

        no, it actually measures the maths skills of Americans and compares them to the math skills of other nations.

        The problem is Americans are just not good at math, it's not international testing getting the answers WRONG...

        It's stupidity and ignorance.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 16 Feb 2013 @ 3:59pm

        Re: Re: international testing

        yes, and that the main problem with international testing is who poorly Americans do in them.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2013 @ 7:23pm

    a^n+b^n=c^n QED what does a caret mean in rithmatic?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    DCX2, 14 Jan 2013 @ 7:33pm

    The Three R's

    Readin', 'Ritin', and 'Rithmetic.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2013 @ 7:51pm

      Re: The Three R's

      Wwhere the hell did that start from anyway?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        DCX2, 14 Jan 2013 @ 8:07pm

        Re: Re: The Three R's

        "The Three R's" was an environmental campaign about two decades ago or so. It originally stood for "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle".

        Or at least, that's where I heard it first. Apparently it stood for something similar-ish about 200 years ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_three_Rs

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Gregg, 15 Jan 2013 @ 8:39am

          Re: Re: Re: The Three R's

          They've been around since the 30's and there is really only 1 R, the others are W and A......Writing, Arithmetic and Reading had the acronym of WAR, and that didn't sound right. The other acronyms didn't work either (RAW, ARW or RWA) so they went with phonics and got the 3 R's

          link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2013 @ 8:47pm

    ^ symbol for exponent

    Was spread (like a disease) via ancient BASIC.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2013 @ 10:01pm

    All us apologists at Techdirt know what it is

    Of course, we all here at Techdirt know what the third "Arrrh!" stands for nowadays... even if the **AA's don't!

    /sarc

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Gregg, 15 Jan 2013 @ 6:03am

    all you need to know is how to add and subtract, the rest falls in line....it might just take you a week longer to figure out the answer.

    Haven't performed long division in 3.5 years and that was just to help my daughter in math class.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Jan 2013 @ 7:04am

    I think the biggest problem with math today or physics is that they are divorced from real world problems, math was invented to describe the world around us but that is not what is taught in school.

    Math teachers should start teaching math by offering a real world problem that can be solved using that math, that is what drives interest in my opinion, the problems should also be about current tendencies.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 14 Feb 2013 @ 7:02pm

      Re:

      that's crazy, when in fact physics is the application of math IN THE REAL WORLD. Physical world at that.

      like 'gravity accelerates' object towards the earth at 9.8m/s/s

      or second^2

      what physics do you know that does not describe the real world ?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Jan 2013 @ 5:29pm

    My 3 R's

    Rent, rip, return. :)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Feb 2013 @ 7:06pm

    We can argue that these tests don't measure real-life capabilities

    at least your right there, it measures real world INcapabilities.

    so you are willing to argue that even though Americans cannot do math tests does not mean they don't know how to do maths ?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 16 Feb 2013 @ 3:57pm

    Americans are not knows for their smarts, as shown by the total lack of understanding of even something as simple as the difference between infinity and 'very large'.

    Simply Americans do not display a reasonable level of technical or educational knowledge either in testing or in real life.

    Self denial, that's an entirely different issue though. (but it's the test that is wrong).. we are really smart 'honest' !!!!!

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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