I didn't find it to be a particularly convincing "takedown". What's being taught in the example is clearly "the ability to execute a simple algorithm" not "an u

I didn't find it to be a particularly convincing "takedown". What's being taught in the example is clearly "the ability to execute a simple algorithm" not "an understanding of the concepts" so criticizing it for not doing the latter seems silly. Maybe it is the case as one commenter says that second graders should be doing the latter and not the former until later grades. OTOH maybe not! I'd be curious as to the evidence either way.