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^^Check your math. A number over 300 times 8 can't be less than 300 times 8. 362 rounds to 400, not 300. That would be 3200, which is fairly close to the actual answer (2896).
But yes, I agree that the estimation should have been 400*8.
Oops.
Bad example. My son already left for school or I'd post actual problems that he had.
Common Core is indeed a set of standards. Teaching methods had to change to meet those standards. There is no chicken-and-egg debate involved. The standards are dictating the teaching methods that need to be used without outright saying so. Common Core math standards emphasizes an inquiry based mathematical approach where understanding is supposed to drive knowledge instead of the traditional direct approach where knowledge drives understanding.
This all emerged from longitudinal research which tested how children solved and thought mathematically through the grades and then compared that to who eventually became math savvy in high school. Low and behold, those kids that developed what is referred to as number sense in the early elementary grades, which is an understanding of math as opposed instead of just knowing the facts, did indeed turn out to excel or at least not have issues with math in high school and beyond. The numb nuts that put this in Common Core conveniently forgot or missed that those young kids they tested, the ones that had that number sense and understood math at a deeper level when their peers didn't, had been taught the standard way and the understanding was in addition to memorization and other traditional methods - not instead of it.
All this is to say you can still have Common Core, which is nationally standardized curriculum goals, without having math standards that completely changes how math is taught. The problem isn't Common Core, it is the actual math standards placed in the Common Core. It's just like having a cookbook is good, but that doesn't mean the recipes are good. You may throw out a particular cookbook because it had bad reciepes but you wouldn't stop using cookbooks altogether.
^^Check your math. A number over 300 times 8 can't be less than 300 times 8. 362 rounds to 400, not 300. That would be 3200, which is fairly close to the actual answer (2896).
But yes, I agree that the estimation should have been 400*8.
Well the math is correct but I used the wrong number (300 instead of 400). But I get what you are saying.
My son did "public school online" just for math one year. I want to say it was 6th grade. It wasn't a good fit for us at all. One of the questions was something like:
"Susan works for the cable company. She needs to find out how many televisions people on Main Street have in their homes. She goes door-to-door and writes down the number of televisions each household has. Below is the data. Would it make more sense to report the mode, median, or mean to her employer?"
Data: 2, 1, 3, 3, 2, 2, 6, 1, 1, 0, 2, 4, 3
Just... what?
Another was something like, "Liz has 8 shirts, 5 pairs of pants, 3 skirts, and 3 pairs of shoes. How many different outfits can she make? Draw a picture to show your work."
They wanted a picture of nearly 200 outfits?
I'm trying to remember if he did the whole year or just the first semester before we switched to something else and I'm not sure.
My son did "public school online" just for math one year. I want to say it was 6th grade. It wasn't a good fit for us at all. One of the questions was something like:
"Susan works for the cable company. She needs to find out how many televisions people on Main Street have in their homes. She goes door-to-door and writes down the number of televisions each household has. Below is the data. Would it make more sense to report the mode, median, or mean to her employer?"
Data: 2, 1, 3, 3, 2, 2, 6, 1, 1, 0, 2, 4, 3
Just... what?
Another was something like, "Liz has 8 shirts, 5 pairs of pants, 3 skirts, and 3 pairs of shoes. How many different outfits can she make? Draw a picture to show your work."
They wanted a picture of nearly 200 outfits?
I'm trying to remember if he did the whole year or just the first semester before we switched to something else and I'm not sure.
Personally, I think we should emphasize statistics more than we do, as misunderstandings of it can impact people in nearly every profession, plus our intake of daily news and information. So I don't really have an issue with the first question.
The second question seems to show how combinations are tied to multiplication, also an important concept. But yes, I'm not sure how the picture drawing is supposed to work.
When I was looking into education options for my child, we took tours of the public school (was one of the top two districts in the STATE). And I agree, curricula was not mentioned. Lots of talk of security and discipline and buddy system and uniforms though. I followed up with an email to the principal, asking what it was, what textbooks were used. No response.
Sent a second email. No response.
We didn't enroll there. If you can't send a list of the mandatory books being used at en elementary level, there's a problem.
While I agree with you, no response is needed. If you are sending your child to a public school, then they are all using the same textbook. All should be on the same page at the same time. Alternatively speaking, an administrator that answers differently is merely inviting trouble to their school.
These textbooks being used are brightly colored, full of pop-up information and quick sound bites. Almost all have extracurricular media brought in now. Reading the book itself is just disgusting....It's like reading a newspaper with a central theme but no continuity.
However, if your school is one of the best in the state, they're likely doing something right, and have their own curricula they actually USE. They have to have the book, but they ignore it for the most part and use their own materials with the core showing coverage areas.
What's the answer to the first question? I have no idea. I want to say we guessed "mean" and that was wrong.
Well that gets to the art of statistics (and much research in general) - what methodology to use?
Here you're looking for one single value to describe an entire data set - just one number that gives you a sense of the central tendency.
In general, people often prefer median since it is resistant to the effect of outliers and skewing. Here the 6 would be considered an outlier (though not an extreme one). Plotting it as a histogram is very helpful.
However, most people have more familiarity with the mean/average, and often has been easier to quickly calculate.
In this case the mean (2.3) and median (2) are not that far apart, but if I had to pick one, I would go with the median.
As stated, the answer to Question #1 should have been that 30 televisions were reported in 13 households surveyed. None of the mode, mean, or median would by itself have answered the question.
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