<\/center>
<\/center>Developed by TERC<\/a>, with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF),\u00a0 Investigations in Number, Data, and Space<\/a>\u00a0 purports to be “a complete K-5 mathematics curriculum that supports all students as they learn to think mathematically.” The NSF is now spending millions to promote implementation of the TERC program.\u00a0 School Boards find it difficult to say no. They rationalize: “it’s just a different way to teach elementary math, and the NSF backs it, so how bad can it be?”<\/span><\/p>\n This program is very bad because it omits standard computational methods, standard formulas, and standard terminology.\u00a0 TERC says this is now obsolete, due to the power of $5 calculators.\u00a0 They claim their program moves \u201cbeyond arithmetic\u201d to offer “significant math,” including important ideas from probability, statistics, 3-D geometry, and number theory.<\/span><\/p>\n But math is a vertically-structured knowledge domain.\u00a0 Learning more advanced math isn’t possible without first mastering traditional pencil-and-paper arithmetic. This truth is clearly demonstrated by the shallow details of the TERC fifth grade program.\u00a0 Their most advanced “Investigations” offer probability without multiplying fractions, statistics without the arithmetic mean, 3-D geometry without formulas for volume, and number theory without prime numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a> Consider the “Sample of Ads Investigation,” at the end of the TERC fifth grade.\u00a0 Students are given a 48-page newspaper and a supply of\u00a0 “Recording Strips” that are premarked with “familiar fractions,” such as 1\/4 and 2\/3.\u00a0 They begin by deciding to sample one-third of the 48 pages.\u00a0 After using a calculator to divide 48 by 3, they select 16 sample pages and use eyeball estimation to guess the fraction of ads found on each sample page.\u00a0 Then, using one 3-inch \u201cRecording Strip\u201d for each sample page, students color the fraction of ads, cut out the colored portions, and tape them onto a 48-inch length of adding machine tape, \u201cstarting from one end of the tape and putting the pieces right next to each other.\u201d\u00a0 Students then estimate the fraction of ads for the full 16-page sample by folding the 48-inch strip to estimate the fraction corresponding to the 16 colored-in pieces.<\/span><\/p>\n Why not add the 16 fractions and then divide the sum by 16?\u00a0 TERC students never learn about dividing fractions, and they never learn general methods for adding fractions.\u00a0 They do learn a hands-on method for adding two proper fractions with denominators less than 7, but this paper-folding method doesn’t work if the denominator of the sum fraction isn’t also less than 7.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a> For the final fifth grade Investigation in 3-D geometry, TERC students use patterns, scissors, and tape to build prisms, pyramids, cylinders, and cones.\u00a0 They then attempt to \u201cdiscover\u201d 3 to 1 volume relationships by pouring rice from one bulging container into another.\u00a0 Later they find the volume of each paper container by pouring rice from the container into a\u00a0 plastic measuring tool.<\/span><\/p>\n Why not formulas for volume?\u00a0 TERC says students usually don’t understand formulas and frequently apply them blindly and incorrectly.\u00a0 So general methods involving standard formulas are not found in TERC math.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a> TERC recommends natural language, not standard terminology.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For statistics they say “we have found useful such words as clumps, clusters, bumps, gaps, holes, spread out, and bunched together.”\u00a0\u00a0 For “the\u00a0 mathematics of change” they recommend “grow, shrink, faster, slower, steep, flat, slow, steady, speed up, slow down, grows steadily, grows faster and faster, grows slower and slower, shrinks steadily, shrinks slower and slower, shrinks faster and faster, grows and then shrinks, oscillates between growing and shrinking.”\u00a0 TERC appears to believe that these subjective terms are related to calculus.<\/span><\/p>\n TERC has redefined the meaning of “think mathematically” and painted a false picture of elementary mathematics.\u00a0 It\u2019s all very hard to believe, but it’s sadly true.<\/span> For a detailed analysis <\/span><\/u><\/b>of TERC math, click on TERC Hands-On Math: The Truth is in the Details<\/a>.<\/span> <\/p>\n Next?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n <\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" TERC Hands-On Math:\u00a0 A Snapshot View \u00a0by Bill Quirk\u00a0 ( wgquirk@wgquirk.com) Developed by TERC, with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF),\u00a0 Investigations in Number, Data, and Space\u00a0 purports to be “a complete K-5 mathematics curriculum that supports all students as they learn to think mathematically.” The NSF is now spending millions to promote implementation … Continue reading TERC Hands-On Math: A Snapshot View<\/span> TERC Omits All Standard Computational Methods<\/span><\/h3>\n
TERC Omits Standard Formulas<\/span><\/h3>\n
TERC Omits Standard Terminology<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\n
\n<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
\n