Math Moment: What is this new math?

When I say math, you say, (insert the first word that comes to mind). 

Whatever comes to mind will surely be shaped by our individual math stories. What did it feel like to learn math in school? What felt good? What didn’t? My story was shaped by weekly timed multiplication quizzes in third grade. Our scores were publicly posted in the front of the room, and as soon as everyone got 100%, we earned an ice cream party. I will let you fill in the rest of the story, as I imagine many of you knowingly nodding along as you connect your experience to mine.

We have come a long way from those days as we have grown to understand math learning as far more expansive than arithmetic and speedy computation. Instead, our focus is on the work of true mathematicians — deep thinking, reasoning, finding patterns, and making connections. It is the way we make sense of the fundamental truths of the universe, and there is much beauty to be found in the study of mathematics from the earliest of ages onward. How different from the way many (dare I say most) of us learned math.

You may feel this difference most keenly when you sit down with your child to work on math homework. You may think, “What is this new math? How do I help my child when it looks so very different from how I learned?”  What I think is most critical in these moments is to have a loose road map on how to help your child all the while knowing that it is not your job to teach them how to get the correct answer or to challenge them with a harder problem. Rather, it is to guide and empower them to trust their unique processes. It is to nudge them to go deeper, to make connections, to seek patterns. Here are some questions I have used with my children whether they are struggling with a concept or find a problem quite simple: