TIMES TABLES CD

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A note about Number Facts

Fundamental to success in mathematics is a solid grounding in number facts. In particular, knowing the multiplication, division, addition and subtraction tables by heart is an essential prerequisite to success.
The modern-day aversion to ‘rote learning’ is a shame, for without a solid grounding in number facts young learners cannot properly invest their energies in grasping new algorithms, their attention (and confidence) being consumed in these basic prerequisites. Lack of confidence with basic number creates a barrier to further progress, and it therefore should be addressed as the most important issue in mathematics learning—not only in the initial stages, but throughout the primary years, if not also beyond.
Mental agility in all areas of mathematics is to be encouraged, and a good proportion—at least a third—of all tuition should give practice in this area.
From the series of books –“ Maths Mastery”

Give U.S. Math Students More Rote Learning

''The way mathematics is taught and perceived in the United States needs a major overhaul because most students leave school without enough skills to meet job demands or to continue their education effectively, prominent mathematicians, scientists and educators said in a report today'' (news story, Jan. 27).
Some of the remedies suggested have been tried for the last 20 years and have constituted a disaster for mathematicians in this country. Where have the members of this committee been? As any accountant would have informed the participants, the reason adults can no longer successfully apply basic mathematical skills is precisely that they no longer have those skills to begin with.
One cannot master the applications of mathematics unless one can handle addition, multiplication and fractions completely automatically and by hand. The only way to get a sense of mathematical objects, whether they be numbers, derivatives or tensors, is to handle them without the aid of calculators.
Every day we all run into clerks who haven't the slightest idea of what the numbers are that they are putting into their calculators. Anyone who has taught calculus knows how to recognize those who are failing an exam: simply look for the students who are pressing the buttons on their calculators. Calculators should be used only after one has an intimate and instinctive knowledge of numbers, which must, lamentably, be learned by rote.
EDWARD G. EFFROS Los Angeles, Jan. 30, 1989
The writer is a University of California professor of mathematics.

Education Update
Learning Times Tables

Within the UK, there is an ongoing debate about the best way for children to learn multiplication tables. The debate hit the headlines in September 2004 when the calculator manufacturer Casio published a recent survey based on a poll of over four hundred children. They found that around two-thirds of children
aged between 7 and 10 did not know that seven times nine makes 63.
Research on maths times tables
Casio’s findings were reinforced by the research of Dr Sylvia Steel, a consultant in early learning difficulties based at Royal Holloway College, University of London. In her research, two hundred and forty-one children aged from 7 to 12 years were observed while they performed a series of simple addition, subtraction and multiplication problems at a computer.

Researchers assessed whether they counted with their fingers, added and subtracted from related facts, or if they were able to recall answers from long-term memory. As one might expect, older children were more likely to simply recall the answers. However, even at age 10–11, one third of children were still entirely dependent on counting for addition problems and 20 per cent were still using counting for simple multiplication problems. Those children who were able to recall answers from memory were quicker and more accurate.

Dr Steel’s conclusion was “Although conceptual methods are useful in aiding understanding, the most effective way of mastering number facts is to learn by rote”. She also concluded that there should be more emphasis on aural methods, i.e. listening to the tables, repeating them and chanting them.

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