topic Re: Times tables? in The Round Table

Times tables?

cee-dee — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 10:25:31 GMT

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43046142

Do you remenber your times tables? Remember having to recite the tables out loud?

Do they still print the tables on the back cover of excercise books?

I think kids should be taught the tables, once learned, never forgotten, what's your feeling?

Re: Times tables?

right-then-petal — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 11:25:37 GMT

Can You Get An App For That

Re: Times tables?

margaret*e — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 11:30:43 GMT

Once learned, never forgotten, what's your feeling?

Maybe for you, CD.

Re: Times tables?

theelench — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 12:09:24 GMT

They certainly stayed in there somewhere, I'm coming up to retirement and can still recall them when needed.

They should still teach kids tables and mental arithmetic generally but they don't seem to judging by the the fact that at check-outs I sometimes get surprised looks if I hand over the right money for half a dozen items.

I also remember when bar-maids could serve a couple of different customers at the same time, work out both bills correctly and carry on a conversation as well. Now if they can't find something written on one of the till buttons they seem lost.

It seems especially relevant considering the growing numbers suffering from memory loss and dementia and the advice that doing anything that maintains mental agility helps ward off these terrible conditions.

Re: Times tables?

fallen-archie — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 12:29:49 GMT

I can and still do mental arithmetic, and I am able to count various things at the same time! I think all children ought to be able to do basic sums in their heads althoughto be fair many simply never had the aptitude for it. Given my love of maths I have to admit to having a complete mental block when it comes to algebra don’t know why perhaps it was never explained to me properly but as hard as I tried it all seemed rather strange😩

Re: Times tables?

cee-dee — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 13:55:50 GMT

Funny that, algebra semed like a load of garbage to me when I was at school.

The substituting of numbers in to an algebaic formula made it easy for me but doing algebraic calculations without numbers was lost on me.

Re: Times tables?

**bustysinclaire** — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 15:29:09 GMT

I think they should go back to basics at school.

There is far too much reliance on modern technology, my grandchildren don't seem to recite them like we used to.

I'm not against modern, but only as an added tool not to replace the tried and tested teaching methods.

Re: Times tables?

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 16:02:46 GMT

I do feel that children should learn their timetables and not rely on technology. It is quite shocking how many kids nowadays don't know them. When I was younger you could hear the children chanting them when you passed schools. There was nothing wrong with that. We had regular short tests, weekly, to see how we were doing (on all subjects by the way). Maths didn't come easy to me, but I did learn it by having to drum it in and practice, practice, practice. And I'm glad I did and had to. I never use a calculator.

What is wrong with testing kids about what they are learning.

They say in the article that children are already tested too much. On what? Their spelling? Geography? History? I haven't seen much evidence of that at my children's primary school.

We don't want to harp on about the “old days”, but we went to school to learn, not to have fun.

Of course nowadays knowledge is just a click of a button away. Why retain it in your head? I can see the point in a way. There will be more space left for...........................I don't know, Tinder, Twitter, Facebook, Pof..........................fun stuff.

Just because we have the technology to do it all for us should we become so depended on it?

Re: Times tables?

cee-dee — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 16:27:32 GMT

They say older people don't like change (or changes). There's nothing wrong with changes when they're for the better.

The thing is with today, the "changes" often seem like gimmicks rather that a change that was needed or indeed asked for.

The three Rs are the basis of everything. As a kid, if you can't Read you're at a great disadvantage straight away even for simply reading the instructions with your new toy. The 'Riting to accompany reading is essential if you're ever going to do anything other than "exist". The 'Rithmatic is also a basic essention for getting on with living and those three "Rs" are the basis for everything you do from junior school onwards.

Reading many news sites makes me thing that some of the writers didn't learn to read and write properly as some of the spellings and grammar are pathetically bad. If it wasn't time to make tea I'd give some examples.

Re: Times tables?

023mjc — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 18:30:40 GMT

I also remember all my times tables.

I was shocked at christmas - I asked my 16 year old grand daughter to write a christmas card. She didn't know how to write an envelope !!

I asked her how she sends letters and she said "email".

Re: Times tables?

cee-dee — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 20:27:11 GMT

Right, that's it, I shall crawl away and hide in shame, in my hurry I didn't notice the mistakes....

Re: Times tables?

margaret*e — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 20:43:00 GMT

😇

Re: Times tables?

vamo48 — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 23:12:56 GMT

We learned the times tables in primary school, they were all up on the wall and we were expected to learn them in our own time and when we felt we knew one well enough the teacher tested us on them individually, and we got a gold star if we got them all right. I was ok with tables, but misunderstood something about arithmetic right at the beginning and used to guess the answers, and fell behind.

When I went to high schoool we were told "in algebra the letters can mean anything you like" and I thought I'd never get one wrong again! Oops.