Catchy vs. Comprehension Tanya Archie Noyce Master Teaching Fellow Secondary Math Coach for Omaha Public Schools
Mnemonic: A device or aid intended to assist or improve the memory
Gimmick: A trick or device used to attract attention or increase appeal
Concepts Cannot Be Memorized Gimmicks Cannot Replace Understanding
Order of Operations
“What do you mean the order of operations? We have never done the order of operations!!!”
“Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally!!” “No dummy… PEMDAS!!!”
What are the weaknesses in using PEMDAS and “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally”?
Gimmicks
Common Gimmicks Keep-Change-Change Thumb/Mitten method Butterfly method Cross-eyed method Ice Cream Cone method Onion skin method Keep-Change-flip Fish method FOIL method Pickle Method
Subtracting Integers
Dividing Fractions
Why does the product of the means equal the product of the extremes?
Why does cross simplifying before multiplying fractions work?
What concepts does this gimmick replace?
Rhymes and Songs Are they all bad?
GOOD EXAMPLE Quadratic Formula to “Pop Goes the Weasel” “X equals negative b, plus or minus the square root of b squared minus 4ac ALL over 2a”
NON-EXAMPLE (Using a song to replace understanding and contains incorrect math information) Adding Integers to “Row, row your boat” “Same signs add and keep, different signs subtract….keep the sign of the larger number, then you’ll be exact!!”
Concepts Cannot Be Memorized Gimmicks Cannot Replace Understanding
Recommend
More recommend
