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Schools

Tables turned on math lessons

"New math" even revives a medieval mathematician's multiplication grid.

By TOM MARSHALL
Published December 11, 2006

SPRING HILL - A teacher asks fifth-graders to do a tricky math problem: 357 times 9,435.

Fifth-graders start drawing grids on paper, as if preparing for a Sudoku tournament. Hands fly up. The problem's done - quickly.

What's going on here?

In an overlooked corner of the debate over "new math" vs. "old math," some schools in west-central Florida are teaching a method of multiplication that dates to 13th century mathematician Leonardo "Fibonacci" Pisano.

Kids say it's easier than the way their parents and grandparents multiplied larger numbers, with none of that laborious number-carrying or long, zero-filled columns to keep straight.

And some teachers say that's a good thing.

"I have a catchphrase: Solve the problem, use any way your heart desires," said Doreen Vossler, a teacher at J.D. Floyd Elementary School in Spring Hill. "I'm not looking for the method, I'm looking for the right answer."

Dozens of schools across the area are using McGraw-Hill's Everyday Math series, which recommends "lattice multiplication" as one way to crunch larger numbers. In Citrus County, all 10 elementary schools have embraced the approach.

Experts call the program the most visible example of the new math, in which students are encouraged to think inventively about numbers and try novel approaches for solving problems.

Nationwide, school districts including New York City and Dallas have adopted Everyday Math. About 135,000 classrooms and nearly 3-million students are using it, said Wright Group/McGraw-Hill spokeswoman Linda Schilling.

Although the program has been around since the 1980s, it has gained a foothold in west-central Florida only in the past few years.

It's also the first national math program in generations to dust off Fibonacci's lattice method. "I don't think I've seen it in a textbook in a very long time," said Hernando curriculum coordinator Elaine Wooten.

New vs. old

To use the lattice method, students write one factor across the top of a grid and another along the side. Then they multiply across the grid, filling in their answers in the middle, and add up the answers diagonally to get a solution.

It's easier than it sounds.

"It's like a little Game Boy," said 10-year-old Amanda Arevalo, a student at J.D. Floyd Elementary. "I learned it in second grade."

Classmate Ricky Jaeger said he loves lattice but has had trouble convincing the older generation of its merits. "My parents don't understand," he said with a grin. "So my mom's trying to teach me the old way."

In an impromptu math-off, lattice vs. the traditional method, a half-dozen fifth-graders faced off against 64-year-old Vernon Vossler, a classroom volunteer and lifelong numbers-lover whose daughter described him as "just floored" when he first saw the kids at work.

In head-to-head competition, he placed second, twice, but took it in stride. "It's amazing how it works - it looks like they're playing games," Vossler said.

As for the "new math," he added, "Most of it, I'm not really crazy about it."

He's not alone.

In September the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics released a report calling on states to refocus their teaching of core math standards. It recommended setting clear goals for subjects like algebra and geometry in the upper grades to help U.S. students compete with their international counterparts.

Schools should teach fewer concepts more intensively each year, the council said, adding that a little memorization might not be such a bad thing after all.

But the council still supports teaching students to think critically about math and finding their own, inventive solutions.

Refocusing standards

Florida is adopting that balanced approach in revising its own mathematics standards, said Mary Jane Tappen, deputy chancellor for K-12 student achievement.

And if lattice multiplication helps students get their heads around big numbers, that's a good thing, she said.

Sandy Titsworth, an elementary math supervisor in Pinellas County where nine schools use Everyday Math, argues for multiple approaches - teaching both computational skills and conceptual understanding - to help students succeed.

In the old days, good math students "just got it" and the others were left behind, said Titsworth. "That's what we're trying to get away from."

About a dozen Hillsborough County schools use Everyday Math, but many more teachers have been taught lattice multiplication in training sessions, said Shelly Fritz, a district math resource teacher.

"I'd say it's growing and growing," she said, estimating that a few teachers in every school teach the method.

Pasco County has shied away from adopting the series and its freewheeling approach for general use, opting for the more traditional Harcourt series.

"Everyday Math is a wonderful program, but it's difficult for some teachers to get involved with," said math supervisor Jill Nielsen. "It really requires teachers to think on their feet, and some find that difficult."

Teacher Doreen Vossler said she's seen struggling students turn their math careers around with the lattice system.

Fibonacci - who wrote his first mathematics classic, Liber Abaci, in 1202 to help struggling Italian merchants keep up with the competition - would approve.

Tom Marshall can be reached at tmarshall@sptimes.com or 352 848-1431.

[Last modified December 11, 2006, 06:29:26]