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Evelyn Raiken Lewis
Like many parents and social justice advocates, I have been distressed about the current state of our education system which has left so many children without basic skills for success, however they...view moreLike many parents and social justice advocates, I have been distressed about the current state of our education system which has left so many children without basic skills for success, however they might define it.Through my work at the Human Subjects Division of the Office of Research at the University of Washington, I was introduced to current research in brain science and language acquisition. This research mapped the critical age to learn language and the decline in this ability after seven years of age. By applying this research to my experience as a parent and math tutor, I came to understand why so many children can't seem to learn math, even though they had no trouble learning their native language, whose rules, or algorithms, are much more complex. Additional research pointed to the same conclusion, that math vocabulary and concepts, similarly to all language, is most easily learned in early childhood.I advocate for teaching the language of math, the vocabulary and concepts of algebra, geometry, trig and calculus, to young children in a program of discovery and inquiry. This method of teaching math differs from the current methodology of assessment and accountability which focuses through high stakes testing of rote arithmetic.I ask readers to consider the hypothesis that it is the delay in learning math vocabulary and concepts that makes math difficult for children.view less
Books by Evelyn Raiken Lewis
Introducing Little Kids to the Big Ideas of Mathematics: A Rad Makeover for Teaching Math