Why Elementary School Math is Torture

We all know how it goes.  First we learn to count, then to add, then to subtract, then to multiply, then to divide, we throw in some fractions just for kicks, and before we know it we are sitting in algebra I class, mindlessly kicking the chair in front of us, tired, miserable, bored, and in most cases utterly confounded.  Maria Droujkova, pioneering educator, is trying to alter this torturous right of passage.  She calls much of the math we learn in elementary school "developmentally inappropriate." The standard progression of mathematical concepts that children lean is entirely unrelated to the foundations of math and the developmental abilities of children.  Addition is a simple concept, but a cognitively a difficult task for most young children.  Essentially, teachers are asking their students to "dig a trench with a spoon," a simple but torturous task.  What educators should be focused on according to Droujkova is free math play, tasks that are conceptually complex, but easy.  Examples of such play include:  "building a house with LEGO blocks, doing origami or snowflake cut-outs, or using a pretend “function box” that transforms objects (and can also be used in combination with a second machine to compose functions, or backwards to invert a function, and so on)."  If given these tasks, children would understand that mathematics is essentially patterns and structures, and be able to apply this knowledge formally when developmentally appropriate.  The way in which we learn math today turns off children at an early age to potentially enjoyable concepts that can improve and shape our world.  Mathematics is important and fundamentally playful, so why do most adults shiver with fear at the mention of calculus?  Well, like you might of guessed, it is because, their fourth grade math teacher was a torturous villain bent on destroying happiness and hope.  Read the full article here http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/03/5-year-olds-can-learn-calculus/284124/.