Differences in editions of Knowing and Teaching Elementary Math

[Aludlam]

For you out there who have read both the older and newer editions of Liping Ma's book Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics --- Are there any real differences? I'm looking at purchasing an older/used copy. Would I be missing anything?

 

thanks

Angela

[Corraleno]

The only differences between the original (1999) edition and the 2010 "Anniversary Edition" appear to be the addition of an author's preface and editor's introduction in the beginning of the book, and an article at the end discussing the impact of the book in the ten years since it was originally published.

 

There's no indication that changes were made to the text itself, and IMO the additional front matter and the article at the end, while interesting, are not important to understanding Ma's thesis. It's an eye-opening book ~ you'll never think about (or teach) math in the same way!

 

Jackie

[usetoschool]

The body of the book is exactly, page for page the same. I have the new one and compared it to the preview on Amazon for the old one and it is identical.

 

The extra material doesn't really add anything to the book. There are a few tidbits of info in the article at the end but nothing useful as far as implementing Dr. Ma's ideas.

[Aludlam]

Thanks so much!

 

Angela

[PinkInTheBlue]

Thank you for posting this. I'm considering buying this as well and had the same question.

 

Does anyone have an opinion of how I would like buying this on Kindle rather than in paper? I have WTM on my Kindle but I'm glad I've had and do have it in print. It's a book I'd rather be able to flip around and makes notes easily. I'm glad to have the Kindle version for taking with me on trips but it would not be good for my primary book. Ma's book is somewhat small and straightforward, right?

 

Thanks!

[usetoschool]

It is small - 6x9 size and less than an inch thick. The meat of the book is 153 pages that definitely scream out for highlighting and making notes.

[Corraleno]

It is small - 6x9 size and less than an inch thick. The meat of the book is 153 pages that definitely scream out for highlighting and making notes.

:iagree:

Mine is already full of notes, highlighting, and bent page corners, and I plan on reading it through a 2nd time; I'm sure I'll pick up even more ideas.

Jackie

[HappyGrace]

I have actually taught a couple of concepts to my dc directly OUT of my Ma book-definitely one you need in print! :)

 

Probably your copy will look like it grew hair because it will have all those little Post-It flags hanging out of it.

[HappyGrace]

I have actually taught a couple of concepts to my dc directly OUT of my Ma book-definitely one you need in print! :)

 

Probably your copy will look like it grew hair because it will have all those little Post-It flags hanging out of it. :D

[HappyGrace]

sorry for the double post!

[PinkInTheBlue]

Alrighty then! I'll order it tonight. Thank you all very much, as usual. :)

[PinkInTheBlue]

Oh, I thought of another quick question and since this will FINALLY result in my 1,000th post, I just had to make it a separate post. :)

 

I know the concepts in the book are geared toward elementary ages, but if I read truly profound things as you all say I will, can I assist my older boys or too late?

 

Thanks!

 

(It's taken since the day the new board opened to reach 1,000. Is that too pathetic? :) )

[Corraleno]

It can help you teach students of any age, in the sense that you'll understand what it really means to have a deep, conceptual understanding of mathematics. Ma summarizes four qualities that lead to this depth of understanding (all quotes from Ma, p. 122):

 

(1) Connectedness ~ "understanding the connections among mathematical concepts and procedures.... including complicated and underlying connections among different mathematical operations and subdomains," which lead students to understand math as a "unified body of knowledge" rather than "isolated topics."

 

(2) Multiple Perspectives ~ the ability to "appreciate different facets of an idea and various approaches to a solution... and to provide mathematical explanations" for them.

 

(3) Basic Ideas ~ awareness of "simple but powerful basic concepts and principles of mathematics" and the tendency to frequently "revisit and reinforce these basic ideas."

 

(4) Longitudinal Coherence ~ clearly connecting and relating what is learned in each grade to the others.

 

It's not a how-to book, though ~ it only addresses four specific math concepts, which were used as examples when Ma interviewed math teachers in China and the US: borrowing/regrouping, multi-digit multiplication, division by fractions, and area/perimeter. The section on division by fractions, in particular, illustrates the importance of giving students a deep understanding of the underlying concepts and connections in math. Because the concept tends to be taught procedurally in the US (just "invert & multiply"), rather than conceptually, most of the US teachers completely misunderstood the meaning of the operation (e.g. thinking that dividing by 1/2 was the same as dividing by 2). Most of the Chinese teachers, however, not only clearly understood the concept, they could explain the concept and solve the problem in multiple ways, and their explanations clearly connected the problem to basic underlying principles of mathematics.

 

And if anyone thinks that having a conceptual understanding of division by fractions isn't important to actually solving the problem ~ 100% of the Chinese teachers calculated the correct answer, while only 40% of US teachers did.

 

Jackie

[Corraleno]

For anyone else interested in this book, you can get "good" copies of the first edition on Amazon starting at $5 and "like new" copies starting at $10. Well worth it!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0805829091/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

 

Jackie