Times table to be learnt at Primary School

If I compared the type of early maths education I had..eg how many bucketfuls of coal would fill a bath at a rate of whatever ....to the computer programming and advanced maths that is being learnt now, I think we should be pleased with our teachers and their students. (I never quite "got" the relevance of the bath bit and I think I might have enjoyed the computer bit!)

I agree Brue. I would love to be a child today learning computer programming. I've dived into it later in life and it's much more interesting that Pythagoras's Theorem or Sines, Cosines and Logarithms ever were!!

If I compared the type of early maths education I had..eg how many bucketfuls of coal would fill a bath at a rate of whatever ....to the computer programming and advanced maths that is being learnt now, I think we should be pleased with our teachers and their students. (I never quite "got" the relevance of the bath bit and I think I might have enjoyed the computer bit!)

I agree Brue. I would love to be a child today learning computer programming. I've dived into it later in life and it's much more interesting that Pythagoras's Theorem or Sines, Cosines and Logarithms ever were!!

In your opinion. However I would rather be doing Pythagoras and algebra than computing. We are not all the same.

If I compared the type of early maths education I had..eg how many bucketfuls of coal would fill a bath at a rate of whatever ....to the computer programming and advanced maths that is being learnt now, I think we should be pleased with our teachers and their students. (I never quite "got" the relevance of the bath bit and I think I might have enjoyed the computer bit!)

I agree Brue. I would love to be a child today learning computer programming. I've dived into it later in life and it's much more interesting that Pythagoras's Theorem or Sines, Cosines and Logarithms ever were!!

In your opinion. However I would rather be doing Pythagoras and algebra than computing. We are not all the same.

Yep! Just my opinion and my preferences!

And I still know my times tables!!!

Cheers

Bugs

Am but a simple sailer now desk bound, what would I know. Education ah yes, the one item consecutive Governments tinker with for the sake of it. Teachers and pupils suffer.  I have one of 7 and one of 10yrs, both ready to pop before the Xmas hols. In fact whilst they did well bless them, I still complained about the pressure they are under. Consider this one moment, application, do you realise that if they had in fact not attempted to pump water out of the bow of the Titanic, but use the same pumps to flood the stern compartments she would not of floundered. Flooding the stern section, would have effectively brought the bow up. Therefore reducing the flooding in the forward section.

My point, there were many many well educated people on board at the time, a well educated Master, the Owners rep and the designer all of who I guess had a jolly good education, but no application.

Teaching children to pass a test, will in no way help anyone, only people who have worked outside education will accept that.

Its a daily battle, which it should not be!

Wow - Everybody knows that the Northumbrians are the Creme de la Creme among those south of the border, But to cover those mathematical subjects in primary education, which is what this thread is all about, is really impressive.    

Quote :- " I would love to be a child today learning computer programming. I've dived into it later in life and it's much more interesting that Pythagoras's Theorem or Sines, Cosines and Logarithms ever were!!"  

K 

 

 However I would rather be doing Pythagoras and algebra than computing. We are not all the same.

‘Proper’ computing is not using computer products, it’s writing the code to create them and is very similar to Algebra.

If code writers stuck to the same logic, rather than trying to reinvent something new, we might get on better using their products and could use a program rather than rely on tables.

 ...., do you realise that if they had in fact not attempted to pump water out of the bow of the Titanic, but use the same pumps to flood the stern compartments she would not of floundered. Flooding the stern section, would have effectively brought the bow up. Therefore reducing the flooding in the forward section. ...

Isn't hindsight wonderful? 

 ...., do you realise that if they had in fact not attempted to pump water out of the bow of the Titanic, but use the same pumps to flood the stern compartments she would not of floundered. Flooding the stern section, would have effectively brought the bow up. Therefore reducing the flooding in the forward section. ...

Isn't hindsight wonderful? 

It is easy to argue that you should teach to think 'outside the box' and that we should be preparing our children think for themselves and to problem solve - and perhaps someone on the Titanic may have thought "What if...?" There is obviously an argument for learning mathematical skills but learning tables is no solution.

"Teaching children to pass a test, will in no way help anyone, only people who have worked outside education will accept that."

Actually, I think there are many inside education who would agree!

But this is what our society is becoming. Ticking boxes. Learning what rather than why. Doing as we’re told rather than understand the reason.

We seemed to be a country of ‘mangers’ who are not actually trusted to manage. Instead, they must follow procedures rigidly and “evidence” everything they do.