How Koreans Teach Basic Math
By Sun Kyu Bae |
Published September 14, 2009 |
Articles |
printer friendly version
Here's a glimpse of how different teaching addition and subtraction are in Korea compared to the U.S.!
Mathematical Philosophy
As I stated above, the reason for teaching opposite approaches for solving math problems is because students not only learn "straightforward" math, but also mathematical applications that approach philosophical levels - I'm not trying to talk all smart here, but rather attempting to translate the meaning behind my cousin's statement when she said, "And kids are not only taught to solve problems that have simple answers, like 1 + 1, but they're also expected to solve math problems with no straight forward answers, answers which have to be explained in writing". Wait a minute. Math problems that need to be explained with words rather than numbers? Read on, brave souls.
Here's an example of what Korean kids are learning at the 3-4 grade level, in addition to straight-forward math: If you're looking at a cylinder, what shape does that cylinder change into when looking at it at from eye-level? Answer: a rectangle. This kind of problem helps the student understand that a given shape, when looking at it from a different angle, is a different shape altogether. So when anyone is asking what shape is this (insert any shape here)? The answer really is, "it depends on which angle you're looking at it from". Hence, no definitive answer.
Of course, all this learning and drilling does not come without costs. Those Korean kids are under some tremendous pressure to rise above ever-increasing competition in their society. Already, the 3rd grade child doesn't come home until 8PM after all the after-school teaching programs, called "hagwons", are finished (homework then follows until the end of the evening). And although I can't be sure whether this level of drilling and practicing in Korea can be sustainable over the longer term, there's no arguing that impressive results have been demonstrated for decades.
My final thoughts on all this - while I think there are things very valuable that we can borrow here from the Koreans in the pursuit of education, especially when it comes to teaching basic mathematics, I definitely wouldn't recommend going to the full extent that modern Korean society is pushing their kids. Of course, that sort of flexibility in taking only the best parts of teaching math is perfect for homeschoolers like us.
See you next time!
- Sun
view as single page
Not What You're Looking For?
Use our Search Engine!
For best results, enter a 3-4 word search term. Then, if you get too many results, try adding another word to narrow down your results. If you get too few results, try removing a word from your search term to increase your search results.
Try it now!