Last night my youngest was reading to me a math story book on multiplication (exciting, I know). I’m amazed at how much calculation he already does in his head. Some books are really creative at getting kids to visualize math. All I could think about was how they integrated ‘real-life’ math to us as kids in school; like scoring ten frames of bowling — long hand!
It’s weird to think of it, but gym class became math class for a few weeks in third grade when they busted out the hollow rubber bowling balls, plastic pins and mimeographed score sheets. It seems like we spent a whole year on learning how to score in bowling (apparently it’s critical that all North Dakota children develop this life skill). When it was time for the final test, I remember reciting those rules to myself quietly as I scored: a spare is ten plus the next one ball, a strike is ten plus the next two balls.
Within years, all the bowling alleys switched to computers so my mastery of this skill quickly became obsolete. To keep the tradition of North Dakota math life skills alive, maybe schools could start teaching kids how to score Pinochle games.
2 replies on “Old School Math”
Interesting that you should mention pinochle, we did have to learn to play and score it in high school!
Haha! No way!