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Tuesday, November 8. 2011

Forget studying statistics - Should every adult American be able to pass an ordinary 6th Grade math test?

A teacher put a sample of her 6th Grade summary math exam online, here.


I had forgotten what sorts of things 6th Grade math entailed, but found that I did not forget any that basic stuff because one keeps using it in daily life. 6th Grade math is fun math, no abstractions at all.


 

Posted by Bird Dog in Education, Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 13:03 | Comments (16) | Trackbacks (0)

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"Improper fraction?"

Snicker. I guess everything needs a name. I'd be happy if all incoming college freshpersons could pass that exam.
#1 chuck on 2011-11-08 13:17 (Reply)
Maybe some of those sixth graders can show the host how to soup up its site. It's slower than anything I've accessed this morning.
#2 BillH on 2011-11-08 13:22 (Reply)
BillH,

I've found the same thing over the last few weeks. Thought it was my prehistoric computer. All other sites I visit run normal speed.
#2.1 Garry on 2011-11-08 14:18 (Reply)
I know all that stuff.
#3 rhhardin (Link) on 2011-11-08 13:57 (Reply)
Improper fractions- another improper name that throws kids off. Too bad too, b/c sometimes an improper fraction is a more useful way of expressing something.

Same with reducing fractions. I'd much rather wrenches not have reduced fractions on them.

Can't really remember what use LCMs are. That one took me the longest (nearly 3 minutes), and I missed one.
#4 DrTorch on 2011-11-08 14:18 (Reply)
DrT, least common multiples are useful if you are adding fractions. For example, if you need to add (I said "if") 9/14 and 19/24, then you would use the least common multiple of 14 and 24 as the new denominator in the converted fractions. Converting:
9/14 = 108/168; 19/24 = 133/168
Now, we add (108 + 133)/168 = 241/168 i.e.
9/14 + 19/24 = 241/168

Whether least common multiples are actually useful or not is left as an exercise for the reader.
#4.1 Daniel K Day on 2011-11-08 16:37 (Reply)
That's right! Thanks. Seemed like there was some reason we were supposed to know that.
#4.1.1 DrTorch on 2011-11-08 23:05 (Reply)
at the very least every teacher should pass it. Sadly most teachers can't pass the tests they make their students take nowadays...
#5 J.T. Wenting on 2011-11-08 14:35 (Reply)
I tried one question and got a "Good Job!", so I quit while I was ahead.

Of course, if elementary school quizzes is the subject, someone has to mention this.
#6 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-11-08 15:00 (Reply)
That's fun. Good little brain exercises for those of us who have never needed to use alot of math.
#7 D on 2011-11-08 16:06 (Reply)
I tell my son that there are two things he can do to ensure he'll be successful at anything he tries in life: learn to read effortlessly, and be good at math. Everything else, I tell him, can be learned if you master those skills.

He's only 6, but so far, he loves the power that reading gives him to learn things. He likes to read his own instructions now :)
#8 Sean G on 2011-11-08 16:36 (Reply)
My wife teaches 8th grade math, and most of her students are failing, largely because they never learned the previous years' math. I have suggested to her that she place a box of rocks on her desk. Just before giving a test, hang a giant version of the multiple-answer ("scantron") answer sheet on the wall and throw rocks at it (maybe dipped in chalk dust so they make a mark). From 25 feet away, the marks will be rather random. Then she can grade the answer sheet and challenge the kids: "Are you smarter than a box of rocks?"

She would probably be fired, but I would love to read about it in the local paper.
#9 Samsam von Virginia on 2011-11-08 19:51 (Reply)
My wife teaches 8th grade math, and most of her students are failing, largely because they never learned the previous years' math.
Except that there will be pressure from school administrators to pass students, and nearly all will be passed on.

2011: My neighbor teaches 7th grade math, and most of his students are failing, largely because they never learned the previous years' math.
Except that there will be pressure from school administrators to pass students, and nearly all will be passed on.

My cousin teaches 6th grade math, and most of her students are failing, largely because they never learned the previous years' math.
Except that there will be pressure from school administrators to pass students, and nearly all will be passed on.
#9.1 Gringo on 2011-11-08 22:40 (Reply)
This wasn't my sixth grade math, fifty three years ago, Ms. Watson if I remember correctly, focused on fractions, multiplication, the basics. Yet my education of the time has served me well over the years. I'm thinking we may be asking too much of a child that young, or maybe not. I don't know.
#10 XRay on 2011-11-08 21:42 (Reply)
Math that is used gets remembered. Very little else does, even if you were good at it at one time.

This becomes clear when you help your kids with Algebra II. I was a math wizard, 800 on both I and II CEEB achievements in 1970. But I have had a hard time getting back in form each time a child reaches that level of math, because I have no application of it in anything I do.
#11 Assistant VIllage Idiot (Link) on 2011-11-08 21:45 (Reply)
Since kids are now allowed to use calculators in math classes, how much could they possibly understand?
Can't do math in their heads, I reckon.
#12 PacRim Jim (Link) on 2011-11-08 23:01 (Reply)

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