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The first example is pretty bad. It could just as easily be "Each shirt costs $6. How much do 7 shirts cost?"

minikites 11y ago
It has to do with the particular phrasing of the question. The correct phrasing for your example would be, "Each shirt costs $6. How much money do you need for 7 shirts?" It may seem like a meaningless distinction but it isn't. The first phrasing sets you up to count, the second phrasing sets you up to multiply and grapple with what multiplication actually is.
- userbinator 11y ago
  I don't see any real difference in phrasing. They both involve multiplication, and you can always use repeated counting to multiply. Could you explain more where the difference is...?
  - TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
    One requires math. The other requires English comprehension before you can work out what the math problem is. And in the "Write two equations..." example the English is very vague. There's no suggestion that what it really means "Show the steps you use to rearrange the equation as you work out what y is." As I read it, it's clearly not stating the real problem correctly. If you write two arbitrary rearrangements that are correct but aren't steps on the way to solving the equation, do you get marked down or not? The first example is clearly specious. What is being taught? The concept of multiplication, the memorisation of times tables for multiplication, or the use of multiplication to solve simple problems? I have no problem with a unified national curriculum, but I'd prefer it to be a unified national curriculum supported by hard evidence that it improves outcomes and understanding. This looks more like pointless tinkering around the edges - especially if the textbooks are really bad, as others have suggested.
    - userbinator 11y ago
      There's no suggestion that what it really means "Show the steps you use to rearrange the equation as you work out what y is." I did not get that meaning at all from the wording. (I'm not in the US.) My best guess was that it was a really open-ended question and any two equations with a solution of 11/3 would do, which seems like a rather odd thing to ask.

It has to do with the particular phrasing of the question. The correct phrasing for your example would be, "Each shirt costs $6. How much money do you need for 7 shirts?" It may seem like a meaningless distinction but it isn't. The first phrasing sets you up to count, the second phrasing sets you up to multiply and grapple with what multiplication actually is.

userbinator 11y ago
I don't see any real difference in phrasing. They both involve multiplication, and you can always use repeated counting to multiply. Could you explain more where the difference is...?
- TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
  One requires math. The other requires English comprehension before you can work out what the math problem is. And in the "Write two equations..." example the English is very vague. There's no suggestion that what it really means "Show the steps you use to rearrange the equation as you work out what y is." As I read it, it's clearly not stating the real problem correctly. If you write two arbitrary rearrangements that are correct but aren't steps on the way to solving the equation, do you get marked down or not? The first example is clearly specious. What is being taught? The concept of multiplication, the memorisation of times tables for multiplication, or the use of multiplication to solve simple problems? I have no problem with a unified national curriculum, but I'd prefer it to be a unified national curriculum supported by hard evidence that it improves outcomes and understanding. This looks more like pointless tinkering around the edges - especially if the textbooks are really bad, as others have suggested.
  - userbinator 11y ago
    There's no suggestion that what it really means "Show the steps you use to rearrange the equation as you work out what y is." I did not get that meaning at all from the wording. (I'm not in the US.) My best guess was that it was a really open-ended question and any two equations with a solution of 11/3 would do, which seems like a rather odd thing to ask.