Since the beginning of the 20th century, mathematics education has swung between the “drill-and-kill” emphasis on calculation and repetition and the inquiry-based emphasis on problem-solving and experiential learning. Unlike a physical pendulum that gradually settles at a middle ground, each swing of this pendulum has become more extreme. A more “back to basics” curriculum might hail the requirement that students show their work as an essential part of rote learning, while a more progressive curriculum might abhor the same requirement as an oppressive instrument of white supremacy culture.
With such divisiveness leading both sides to miscategorize and misrepresent the other, mathematics education needs voices that can cut through these divisions. Math teaching needs a non-reactionary via media that marries the conceptual and the procedural, empowers the teacher to lead but invites the student to participate, and provides tangible recommendations for the classroom that focus on student understanding. It is to this difficult project that longtime math teachers Barry Garelick and James Wilson makes a contribution in their new book, “Traditional Math.”
Much of “Traditional Math” reads like the teacher’s guide to a K-8 textbook series, offering helpful insights into almost every topic found in the elementary and middle school scope and sequence, beginning with counting and ending with the quadratic formula. Many of the recommendations found in each section are time-tested, derived from Wilson and Garelick’s experience in elementary and middle school classrooms, respectively.
The recommendations are also eminently practical, providing example problems, identifying key questions, presenting powerful concept-to-concept transitions,
