Comments on: Misconceptions in Math

By: Kristin

Kristin — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 09:44:39 +0000

I’ve had many of these arguments with my daughters teachers. Hence the reason we started homeschooling in 3rd grade. I started her totally from scratch and when we got to division, she’d say can’t be done when she had say 5/6. So I grabbed $5 in change and 6 stuffed animals. Told her to divide the money evenly between the stuffies. I bright in the concept of negatives with subtraction. She’s 10 and we aren’t starting pre-algebra on time but I’m ok with that. It’s easier to have a solid foundation and start algebra a little late. Makes me sad many teachers don’t have the luxury of understanding math a lot deeper. I know my daughters teacher finally got frustrated and basically said she wasn’t good at math and the district determined this was how she had to teach it. I’m lucky I only teach as a tutor. I have a lot more freedom. More schools should share this information. I didn’t really learn math until I took a remedial college course at 19.

By: Ashleigh

Ashleigh — Tue, 24 Apr 2018 23:34:47 +0000

In reply to Neeli Barwick. I don't at this time.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 23:59:24 +0000

I caution my students (4th graders) when they say, “6-9; you can’t do that so you have to regroup,” because you CAN do 6-9. It’s just not a positive number.

By: Neeli Barwick

Neeli Barwick — Sat, 14 Apr 2018 13:17:02 +0000

In reply to Ashleigh. Do you have 5th grade?

By: Denise

Denise — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 23:52:52 +0000

In reply to Elaine.

I admit that, as a younger teacher, I did this, not realizing at the time that there are better ways to teach… that of helping children develop understanding!
Getting a teaching job is just the beginning of our careers! It is our duty to keep learning how to better teach (especially math), all of our professional lives. I have retired after 31 years of teaching primary grades, and still kept learning, right up to the end. The beautiful thing is that my kids were always teaching ME – I just provided the problems and opportunities, and they showed me strategies and patterns that I didn’t think of! I was always learning, along side my students!

By: Denise

Denise — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 23:44:14 +0000

Bravo! I totally agree. Teachers need to learn this, if they haven’t had experience with these misconceptions before.

By: Denise

Denise — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 23:41:25 +0000

Bravo! Every teacher should learn this!

By: Elaine

Elaine — Sat, 07 Apr 2018 13:32:07 +0000

Many times in elementary grades younger students have such difficulty understanding the actual mathematical concepts that in the essence of time the teacher resorts to a trick that works for the time.

By: 8 Things Teachers Say That Create Misconceptions | ecstaffblog

8 Things Teachers Say That Create Misconceptions | ecstaffblog — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 01:13:05 +0000

[…] https://www.ashleigh-educationjourney.com/8-things-teachers-say-create-misconceptions-math/ […]

By: Melissa

Melissa — Sat, 31 Mar 2018 02:13:25 +0000

As an upper level math teacher, I cringe at the word reduce; reduce the fraction. Students are under the impression that the fraction is smaller when they “reduce it”, but in fact it is equivalent (as we know). Every time I have a student say, “ I reduced it”, I come back with, “you simplified it” (not making a huge deal). All my instructions say simplify or put in simplistic form. This is a great thing to share with teachers!!