GCSE maths giving any parents grief?

[Katy Tonbridge]

What do you think about the maths that your teenagers are being taught up to GCSE?

My curiosity has been aroused because I've been trying to help a struggling teenager with factorising equations. Her question "why do I need this?" is not an easy one to answer in her circumstances. (Apart from the answer: "Because it'll be in your GCSE exam.") I'm wondering which aspects of GCSE maths give parents the most grief, for whatever reason.

[Dr De Soto]

I'm almost tempted to say that you're lucky to have a teenager that is prepared to let you help them. What gives me grief is when I see maths becoming a matter of blindly learning a set of rules without any understanding of what they mean. It seems to happen a lot in trigonometry.

[Ruth_Baldock]

When I did my GCSE Maths the first time (10 years ago, took 3 years of re-taking until I finally got a passing grade) my Mum was just honest with me; 'You need to do this because it's on the exam. It's crap, sorry'. Her and I thought of GCSEs as a stepping stone to get you to the next level. If I was able to get A's in a subject, then great. If I was able to get a C, great too- it didn't actually matter at the end of the day as long as I got 5A-C grades to get through to Sixth Form.

[womanofdulwich]

Maths is logic and you might not think so but it is about learning and rememebering processes. this is useful for lots of things in later life- just part of following an argument through and being analytical. if you are lucky enough to have a parent that uses maths everyday ( structural engineer for example) that helps enormously, otherwise I think you mum was quite helpful. there is a hugegap between gcse and a level maths though. i love trigonometry - but we are on vectors now and I always struggled with them..........

At least they dont have to use log books any more-

[new mother]

The current GCSE is so much easier than, say, 20 years ago. There's just no comparison. Looking over a paper briefly does explain the grade inflation, though, that we keep hearing about.

Tbh, how much of what we learned at school is directly applicable in "real" life? If that were the criterion, the syllabus for external exams would have to chance radically.

I do find it concerning, though, in this country how many people are prepared to laugh and state proudly how appalling they are at "maths" - by which they generally mean basic arithmetic but that's another story - when they would be mortified over having poor writing skills, for example. Like it or not, sciences and numbers are the most critical aspect of our society and where new jobs are coming from.

Maybe that's what to tell the teenagers?!

[Katy Tonbridge]

Some good points made above, though at least with vectors and trigonometry there are direct connections that can be made to the real world, they apply to 3D graphics for example. But factorising equations is a level more abstract, hard even to convey to a teenager what it's about, let alone when it might be applied.

[womanofdulwich]

Katy I did not know that about vectors- maybe we should start a thread on what helps with what- ifya know whatImean- although I love factorising equations anyway- dont ask me why.........

[nunheadmum]

Factorising equations???? Total blank in my mind. Which is worrying as I used to LOVE maths and did it up to sixth year / first year at uni level. I can see I'm going to have to re-teach myself loads of stuff if I'm going to be able to help the kids when they get there.

At the moment I'm struggling with phonics with an English accent and modern approaches to simple arithmetic - are there any websites which explain these things and other common school topics / approaches? I will ask the teachers but feel it's possibly a bit more than they can really cover in the snatched 3 minute conversations by the classroom door.

[womanofdulwich]

you would be surprised- once you see their textbook with one worked example- you will be off again in a flash;-)

[zeban]

I actually got a great sense of satisfaction from learning and getting good at maths at GCSE. Not immediately but once we got a great teacher because before that I was crap. It was my favourite subject to revise for for the final exams because once you 'get' it, once you've got the formulas under your belt, you can apply it to any sum. I learnt the formulas from making up codes/giving them names like the way you do with such things such as the 'Never eat shredded wheat' one.

[oilworker]

'Never eat shredded wheat' is for memorising the points of the compass - whats that got to do with maths formulae??

We had a formula we had to remember for structural mechanics- f/y = m/I = E/r this became f*ck young mary in every room....

[zeban]

Exactly what I'm talking about oilworker- at that moment I couldn't remember a formula for a maths formulae so I was just trying to illustrate my point. But you've got the idea and whatever you need to remember it is all good!

[gwod]

nunheadmum Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Factorising equations???? Total blank in my mind.

> Which is worrying as I used to LOVE maths and did

> it up to sixth year / first year at uni level. I

> can see I'm going to have to re-teach myself loads

> of stuff if I'm going to be able to help the kids

> when they get there.

>

> At the moment I'm struggling with phonics with an

> English accent and modern approaches to simple

> arithmetic - are there any websites which explain

> these things and other common school topics /

> approaches? I will ask the teachers but feel it's

> possibly a bit more than they can really cover in

> the snatched 3 minute conversations by the

> classroom door.

I would highly recommend a Book called Maths for Mums and Dads which really helps me remember how to do things, and also teaches the new methodology for primary school maths (it has changed alot since my day!)- I hope the Authors write one soon for secondary schoolers!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Maths-Mums-Dads-Rob-Eastaway/dp/0224086359/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301476770&sr=8-1

[nunheadmum]

Thanks gwod, sounds like what I'm looking for!

[Katy Tonbridge]

Anyone found ways of doing maths with your teenagers without them realising that you and they are "doing maths"? Games or particular household jobs, for example.

[Katy Tonbridge]

Not really GCSE maths, but there's a family maths talk at the Dulwich Festival http://www.dulwichfestival.co.uk/index.php?q=content/maths-magic-and-mystery