Math Tricks - Just Say No!
Posted by Learning Sciences International on September, 27, 2018 https://blog.learningsciences.com/2018/09/27/math-tricks-just-say-no/ Things that make you go hmmmm…. If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say, “I am not a math person,” well, I would not be rich but I would have a decent amount of spare cash to invest (that’s what we math people do with our spare cash … no, not really, but we should). But this statement leads me to a question: Would this same self-proclaimed innumerate person also claim to be illiterate? What is so scary about mathematics and do we assume our students share this same “irrational” fear of mathematics (pun intended) so we use tricks to make it less scary? Math tricks do NOT help kids learn and can even hinder their progress! We know the tricks – we learned them. Remember these tricks? If not, Google them – they are everywhere! For example: o rder of operations ( Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally ); the butterfly method for co