Math from the Past

When asked to describe a memorable math experience from my grade school past, I was unable to recall just one that stood out to me. I can say that I do remember activities where we used manipulatives such as those wooden pattern blocks, connecting blocks, place value charts, fake money, etc. For me, like many others, it was using these types of resources that would make math concepts much more tangible.
One thing I do not recall ever having to do much of, especially compared to know, is explaining and giving reasons to support your answers. I was teaching in a class last week where one of the questions was ended with “explain how you know”. Almost every student in the class had to correct answer, knew how they did (in terms of correctly carrying out the right formula) but they could not put into words how they did it. I think this is a great addition to the curriculum, as students will not just have to plug in formulas and move on. Instead, students will be forced to think about and reason why they did what they did, making more sense out of the problem. I think this is something students at Amber Hill did not have to do much of. If they did maybe they would have been able to understand what they were doing, and would not have developed such a resentment towards math. Just a thought ☺