Excerpts from alleged 5th grade math anti-textbook

["Arthur Hu(comcast)" <arthurhu@comcast.net>]

I copied this from my kids teacher manual for the 
new world -class math text that Lake Washington has 
adopted, and urged stopped teaching of traditional (normal)
math. Comments? By the way, Washington State Essential 
Learning Standards and WASL definition specifies that 4th 
graders are supposed to know that average is what you get
when you divide the sum by the number of items, and 7th 
graders are supposed to be able to add and subtract 
fractions, which is not taught at 5th or 6th grade versions
of this text.


Investigations grade level 5
159 pages
Supported by National Science foudation
p. 6 Investigation 1 Balancing act

5TH GRADERS SHOULD KNOW RANGE, MIDRANGE, MODE, AND MEDIAN, BUT....

Ask the class to consider what single value we could use to represent
the entire data set - a typical value. Students may suggest quantities
such as the mode (most frequent value) [Talk about concepts most
adults have never heard of] or the midrange, (the middle of the range;
for example, if the range were 2 to 92, the midrange would be 47,
halfway betwrrn 2 and 92) Others may focus on the value that has the
biggest clump of data around it. These are all appropriate measures,
but for this lesson, turn their attention to the median as a good
indication of what's typical

WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T USE THE AVERAGE, IT'S BEYOND ADULT COMPREHENSION

You are likely to have students who suggest the arithmetic maen, or as
they may call it, the average. They may know how to find it with the
"add-'em -all-up -and -divide -by -the -number" technique. Although
this algorithm is iften taught in elementary school, research has
shown that it is often not understood, even by older students and
adults.,At this point, it is better to stay away from the mean and the
confusion it may introduce. Focusing on the median and related
measures is more apprpriate for upper elementary students

MEDIAN IS TOO COMPLEX TO FIGURE OUT, SEE TEACHER NOTES

take some time to review the median, see Teacher Note, Finding Medians
and other fractional parts of data sets. Although the definition
appears simple, medians are quite complex (and you said adding and
dividing was confusing??) and it often takes students some time to
figure out how to find the median of a data set.

KIDS CAN'T HANDLE AVERAGE, BUT THEY DARN WELL BETTER BE ABLE TO DO A
WORLD CLASS CHART.

Does the poster ask and answer an appropriate and interesting
question?

Do the data answer the question?

Are the data organized in a way that communicates to the audience?

Are the data summarized in a few concise sentences?

Are the charts and graphs accurate? appropriate? helpful to the
reader?

Has everyone in the group participated in making the poster?

In the discussion, do the students describe their data accurately?

Are the students' conclusions based on the data?

Are the students statements and recommendations upheld by the data?

LETS KEEP IT MULTICULTURAL

Multicultural extensios for all students

some students might bring in newspapers from their own communities.
Some may be in different languages

discuss playgound games from different cultures

UNFAMILIAR WORDS?

.. some words that may be unfamiliar to students with limited

injury, serious, emergency room (!@#$% emergency room??)

compare, range