Since 2013, Jiaming No. 1 Experimental Primary School in Liaocheng City, Shandong Province has tried to reform mathematics teaching. They recruited two classes as pilots and postponed the study of mathematics courses for students in these two classes. , canceled the mathematics courses for the first and second graders, and supplemented the recitation, Chinese studies, calligraphy and other courses. Starting from the third grade, students began to receive ordinary mathematics courses. So far, the students in the first experimental class have officially started to take mathematics courses. After more than a month of study, according to the feedback from the school and some parents, it has not been found that the children in these two classes have any discomfort with the curriculum. Currently, 24 classes in the school have canceled math classes.
Previously, there was a precedent for canceling mathematics classes in the first grade of domestic primary schools in Shanghai. It is indeed very rare for the first and second grade students like Jiaming No. 1 Experimental Primary School in Liaocheng to cancel mathematics classes at the same time. Many people are concerned about this approach. Some people expressed support and believed that the content in the first and second grades is simple and can be learned quickly. Students should first lay a solid foundation in writing before understanding the math questions. However, some people are worried that this approach in the first and second grades will cause students to be in the third grade all at once. It takes several years to study, which adds to the pressure.
Wang Wenjing, a mathematics teacher at the Primary School Affiliated to Shandong Normal University, told reporters that the mathematics courses currently offered in the first and second grades of the school are basic content, mainly to allow students to understand numbers and three-dimensional figures, and to experience and perceive them. The important purpose of learning mathematics is therefore that mathematics classes are necessary at this grade level.
Some experts also believe that teachers’ autonomy as professional technicians should be respected when it comes to education methods. However, educational innovation also requires professional evaluation, and the space for teachers to innovate is not unconditional. The competent authorities should There is dynamic tracking and management.
Yesterday, the reporter interviewed Li Zhimeng, the principal of Jiaming No. 1 Experimental Primary School in Liaocheng City. Principal Li is a mathematics teacher himself and has served as the principal of Liaocheng Experimental Middle School for a long time. He said that based on his long-term experience in teaching mathematics, children in lower grades have good memory and poor logic. Mathematics is a course that requires logic, and there are not many mathematical knowledge points in elementary schools. It is easy for children in lower grades to develop rote memorization. In the cycle of memorization, math classes were canceled in the first and second grades.
Faced with the question of whether it will be too stressful for children to learn three years of mathematics knowledge after entering third grade, principal Li Zhimeng said that he will not increase the pressure on students because of rushing to progress, and at present This method will not increase the learning pressure on students, because as children grow older, the logical thinking skills required in mathematics classes become stronger and stronger, and things that require strenuous learning in the first and second grades become easier. Moreover, at the teaching seminar just held by the school, third-grade mathematics teachers reported that students understood it very quickly, and the content of several classes for first- and second-grade students could now be covered in just one class. At the same time, the cancellation of normal mathematics courses in the first and second grades does not mean that they will not be exposed to mathematics. In the second grade, the school will set up mathematics activity classes and mathematics demonstration classes for students to let them understand the mysteries of mathematics through games and gradually develop their interest. .