Maths in Schools

[hairyhandedfool]

Every Saturday morning there is a maths question on Radio 1. This week it was:

Reggie’s doing a run to a posh coffee shop to thank the Chart team for their hard work on the show…

Roz and Sam both want a Cappuccino (£2.70 each)
Adam wants a Soya Latte (£2.95)
Neil wants a Tea (£1.70)
Joe asks for a muffin (£1.65)
And Reggie goes for a bottle of water (£1.25)

How much change will Reggie get if he pays with a 20 pound note?

Apparently only around 72% got it right. Given Radio 1 apparently has an average listener age of 32, that is quite worrying. One of those getting it wrong apparently is a teacher!

 

[SS4]

Every Saturday morning there is a maths question on Radio 1. This week it was:

Reggie’s doing a run to a posh coffee shop to thank the Chart team for their hard work on the show…

Roz and Sam both want a Cappuccino (£2.70 each)
Adam wants a Soya Latte (£2.95)
Neil wants a Tea (£1.70)
Joe asks for a muffin (£1.65)
And Reggie goes for a bottle of water (£1.25)

How much change will Reggie get if he pays with a 20 pound note?

Apparently only around 72% got it right. Given Radio 1 apparently has an average listener age of 32, that is quite worrying. One of those getting it wrong apparently is a teacher!

£7.05?
Of course radio 1 listeners aren't known for being intelligent. I wonder how many would be right if it was Radio 2 or 4?

Mental arithmetic comes in handy when you're looking for deals. £1.55 or 2 for £3 clearly isn't worth it unless you needed two but £2.50 or 2 for £3 is better. Comparisons have been enhanced by cost per 100g/100ml.

I wonder how many people got it wrong because they couldn't remember the list? I've used a calculator when shopping because I cannot remember the running total

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I genuinely think with Maths, you can either do it or not, you have to have the right mindset, its much like art. Except art's exciting.

We'll have to agree to disagree there
How many jobs state you need an C in art at GCSE

 

[Schnellzug]

£7.05?
Of course radio 1 listeners aren't known for being intelligent. I wonder how many would be right if it was Radio 2 or 4?

Ooooh Stereotyping much?

 

[SS4]

Ooooh Stereotyping much?

Pretty much. Judging by the 8 weeks I was forced to listen to it I can only conclude that many radio 1 listeners aren't blessed with either memory or intelligence
Naturally there are exceptions

 

[Hydro]

Pretty much. Judging by the 8 weeks I was forced to listen to it I can only conclude that many radio 1 listeners aren't blessed with either memory or intelligence

Neither are the presenters.

 

[Schnellzug]

Pretty much. Judging by the 8 weeks I was forced to listen to it I can only conclude that many radio 1 listeners aren't blessed with either memory or intelligence
Naturally there are exceptions

Have you thought of suing whoever was holding you captive for compensation?

 

[Nym]

Metric's big advantage comes from that it's not really metric but, with a few exceptions, the système internationale or SI and therefore the SI prefixes can be used to scale. How do you express 589 nanometers in imperial measures? (sodium yellow iirc)

0.236 mil or 0.236 m.thou (in modern measures)

 

[abutcher1985]

I haven't posted much on here but have been reading these forums for many months! As a secondary school maths teacher I couldn't resist posting a reply to this...

Even though standards in mental maths may well have slipped, maths is still widely regarded as one of the most difficult subjects students learn.

While maintaining an academic approach, the latest GCSE specifications all build in functional maths... Real world application. Students find it difficult to apply skills to real world situations and this seeks to address the problem.

It is true to say that students are no longer required to manipulate imperial measures, but then in design technology we don't learn how to craft objects from prehistoric tools!

My classes use calculators only when it is impractical not to... Students at key stage 3 and those struggling to get a grade C at key stage 4 will get little benefit from finding a square root through written methods. Those who struggle with multiplication may use a table square, but only when it is not intrinsic to the lesson, for example working out area.

I have one number lesson each week with each class, practicing simple number skills.

 

[Ivo]

Interesting to get a Secndary teacher perspective on this.

I have never known of a "Number Lesson" before though? As far as I can remember, from Year 7 all you ever had was the very occasional arithmetic test - including a pointless one as part of the former KS3 SATs - and nothing else.

-----------------------

If you want to improve your arithmetic, have a go at Accounting. Plenty of big numbers there! I always preferred multiplication though; you guys name any number (keep it reasonable - let's say 200 as an upper limit) and I could quite easily recite its square number (e.g. 171x171 = 29241)

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

People just cba. I am in top set Year 9 and half my set are good-for-nothings who never put in every effort, and there's 6 sets below mine!
Bring back the whip may be a controversial, yet useful, option.

I Agree, it is a shame when the kids who are not interested in lessons distrupt these and spoil it for the kids who do want to learn. The less able kids in our schoold were usually taken out and had seperate lessons, allowing the rest to concentrate properly and yes, it's good to get the school master's views on this subject.

It's interesting, as there was a poll a few weeks ago in a newspaper, it may have been the Times and the majority did favour the return of strict methods in school including the cane and whilst that is not likely to happen, they could bring back longer detentions and having to write out lines.

Those 3 methods were still used when I was at school in the 1960s and 1970s, and just the knowledge that you could get one, or any combination of those punishments did make you think before you did something wrong.

There was nothing more tedious than having to say behind after lessons and write out lines. The most I was given in one go was 300, it seemed to take forever.

 

[Nym]

If you want to improve your arithmetic, have a go at Accounting. Plenty of big numbers there! I always preferred multiplication though; you guys name any number (keep it reasonable - let's say 200 as an upper limit) and I could quite easily recite its square number (e.g. 171x171 = 29241)

OK then, 2j

 

[Ivo]

.....

?

 

[43021HST]

It's interesting, as there was a poll a few weeks ago in a newspaper, it may have been the Times and the majority did favour the return of strict methods in school including the cane and whilst that is not likely to happen, they could bring back longer detentions and having to write out lines.

Those 3 methods were still used when I was at school in the 1960s and 1970s, and just the knowledge that you could get one, or any combination of those punishments did make you think before you did something wrong.

One of the reasons why the cane was taken out from schools, because it was attracting the more sadistic members of society into teaching. They would punish children over the the most mere of wrong doings just so they could take out their frustrations on some poor hapless individual.

My Grandad was often telling me about problematic teachers, who dealt out canings like sweets, Grandad ended up punching a teacher due to him getting sick of the endless canings. At the time Grandad was an avid boxer, needless to say the teacher had three weeks off school to recover.

The Cane should never brought into schools.

 

[SS4]

Something tells me Ivo meant real numbers
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ok then, 2j

-4
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One of the reasons why the cane was taken out from schools, because it was attracting the more sadistic members of society into teaching. They would punish children over the the most mere of wrong doings just so they could take out their frustrations on some poor hapless individual.

My Grandad was often telling me about problematic teachers, who dealt out canings like sweets, Grandad ended up punching a teacher due to him getting sick of the endless canings. At the time Grandad was an avid boxer, needless to say the teacher had three weeks off school to recover.

The Cane should never brought into schools.

Perhaps the fact that people are talking about it is a perception of correlation implying causation. Children were better behaved (eg) 40 years ago and the cane was in use 40 years ago. Ergo, the cane made children better behaved.
The problem of bad behaviour is no longer in schools, I was **** scared of the police when I was younger but now nobody seems to care

 

[Ivo]

Perhaps the fact that people are talking about it is a perception of correlation implying causation. Children were better behaved (eg) 40 years ago and the cane was in use 40 years ago. Ergo, the cane made children better behaved.
The problem of bad behaviour is no longer in schools, I was **** scared of the police when I was younger but now nobody seems to care

Forms of corporal punishment in schools were outlawed in 1986. Call this a generalisation if you will, but behaviour in schools and indeed in public has become dramatically worse since then. I am not sure where I saw this but I seem to recall reading that 1989 was the worst year in terms of births for misbehaviour (that doesn't bode well for a 1989-er like me does it? ).

Very few teachers used the cane regularly, shooting down klambert's suggestion. Many had an attachment to their cane though; my two best friends in Year 6 managed to break our teacher's one (this was 14 years after use had been outlawed) - and to say he was upset would be an understatement.

 

[SS4]

Forms of corporal punishment in schools were outlawed in 1986. Call this a generalisation if you will, but behaviour in schools and indeed in public has become dramatically worse since then. I am not sure where I saw this but I seem to recall reading that 1989 was the worst year in terms of births for misbehaviour (that doesn't bode well for a 1989-er like me does it? ).

Very few teachers used the cane regularly, shooting down klambert's suggestion. Many had an attachment to their cane though; my two best friends in Year 6 managed to break our teacher's one (this was 14 years after use had been outlawed) - and to say he was upset would be an understatement.

Fair enough, I was guessing on the year (and a 1988-er like me escapes )

That is correlation implying causation though. If we want to go back to the good old days of good behaviour let's sack women for getting married and deny suffrage to those under 21

 

[Ivo]

I can't find a source for the 1989 thing, but I have found this (OK, so it's from the Daily Fail, but it's still interesting)...

The most violent country in Europe: Britain is also worse than South Africa and U.S.

(Source is from 2009)

 

[Nym]

OK, we really should have a rule that anyone who posts a link from the Daily Main as evidence reveives a warning...

And no-one mentioned what plane of numbers I had to work in

 

[Ivo]

OK, we really should have a rule that anyone who posts a link from the Daily Main as evidence reveives a warning...

Lots of references here (some of which are more reputable than others)

 

[Oswyntail]

....
It is true to say that students are no longer required to manipulate imperial measures, but then in design technology we don't learn how to craft objects from prehistoric tools!

But, in the real world, you will find that the construction industry still uses a mix of imperial and metric - so DT should be based on that

.... Students at key stage 3 and those struggling to get a grade C at key stage 4 will get little benefit ....

This is, IMHO, a problem across the board that has not seriously been addressed since comprehensive education was brought in. Trying to teach any subject to a class of widely mixed abilities will tend to produce teaching concentrated on the lowest ability. The G&T cohort may well get the teaching they need, but those just below do miss out.

..... If we want to go back to the good old days of good behaviour let's sack women for getting married ...

Or, on the other hand, arrange things so that there is one parent at home to provide a constant, stable base, rather than farming children out to after-school clubs, childminders, or the street. Probably impossible these days, but, IMHO, that was yet another slightly wrong turn the social revolution of teh '60s took without anyone thinking through the consequences.

 

[WestCoast]

OK, we really should have a rule that anyone who posts a link from the Daily Main as evidence reveives a warning...

Lots of references here (some of which are more reputable than others)

Don't want to deviate too much as the DM does provide entertainment. However, on the one hand the Daily Mail is slagging off Europe daily with its smug "Britain does it best, better than all the rest" stories, then on the other hand it's slagging off the UK and pointing to Europe for examples of better practice. Notice how few comments the latter type of story tends to attract...

 

[Schnellzug]

Don't want to deviate too much as the DM does provide entertainment. However, on the one hand the Daily Mail is slagging off Europe daily with its smug "Britain does it best, better than all the rest" stories, then on the other hand it's slagging off the UK and pointing to Europe for examples of better practice.

That's because anything they criticise about the UK is all the fault of Labour, of course.

 

[SS4]

That's because anything they criticise about the UK is all the fault of Brussels, of course.

Fixed that for you
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If you believed the DM you'd be excused for thinking Germany, having had no luck taking over Europe in 1914 and 1939, were trying a new method