Carl Gauss was No Ordinary 7 Year Old Boy
Carl was born April 30th 1777 in the area that is now Germany. His teachers quickly noticed an aptitude for numbers and creative thinking. In order to challenge him they asked him to add all the integers from 1 to 100.
He used mathematical reasoning to figure out how to solve it quickly. He didn’t do what many people might have done, adding all the numbers in order. 1+2=3, 3+4=7, 5+6=11 and so on and then adding all the sums together 3+7=10, 10+11=21 and so on. Carl noticed an easier and quicker way to solve it. He saw that each integer has a pair, where the sum of the two integers equals 101. 100+1=101, 99+2=101, 98+3=101 and so on until 50+51=101. He knew that there would be 50 pairs, so he just multiplied 50 x 101= 5050.
What we can Learn from Little Carl
For years mathematicians have encouraged educators to teach math as a more creative and exploratory process, the way Carl Gauss did. No one taught him how to solve the problem, he used a creative process and mathematical reasoning to create a solution. Historically math instruction in the US has been taught by teaching children to solve problems using algorithms, or a series of steps. The Common Core Math Standards is an initiative aimed at changing the way math is taught. It isn’t just about solving equations anymore and just getting the right answers. It includes a lot of explaining a child's thought process and how they arrived at the answer they did.
The way the Common Core Math Standards are taught makes many parents uncomfortable, because in many curricula it looks different from what they were taught. Our articles I Don’t Understand the New Common Core Math My Kid is Learning and Are you a Parent in Parker Frustrated with Common Core Math Standards help parents make sense of Common Core.
At Mathnasium of Parker, we provide math instruction that helps children understand where the algorithms come from and why they work. We encourage children to look at math creatively. Who knows? With this type of math instruction your child may start thinking like little Carl Gauss. For more information about our philosophy and methodology please call us at 303 840-1184
This article was written by and owned by Cuttlefish Copywriting. It is copyright protected. Mathnasium of Parker has permission to use it. Other Mathnasium locations should contact Heather at [email protected] or visit www.cuttlefishcopywriting.com before using it.
