"number sentence"

[silver]

I have to say that I hate the term "number sentence". It makes me twitchy to read it. Why not use "equation" or "inequality" instead?

 

If there's a good reason that it's used so frequently in elementary math curriculum, could someone please share so that I can not go out of my mind while teaching math? :p

[Ellie]

ITA. Children will learn big words if that's what they are taught. It's like telling them that some dinosaurs were meat-eaters or plant-eaters instead of being carnivores or herbivores.

[duckens]

I understand the twitchiness.

 

IMHO, I think the reason is vocabulary.

 

We've all heard people frustrated with math say, "Math is like learning a foreign language!!!"

 

"Well, yes, it is," I always agree.

 

If you don't know what sum means, or denominator, or perimeter, or horizontal, you're going to be lost during the math lesson. (And those are just a few of the words I review every time I do a math lesson with my daughter for 2nd grade Saxon Math.

 

I have tutored college algebra students that have not mastered "the vocabulary of math." They just need to be told that [vocabulary word] is just a big fancy word for [something they are already familiar with, and doing.]

 

Denominator is just a big fancy word for the bottom number in a fraction.

Sum is just a big fancy word for the answer one gets in an addition problem.

 

Number sentence is a simplification of the word "equation." Most kids are familiar with what a number is, and with what a sentence is. It is easier for the kids to remember what you are talking about; especially if you are trying to keep thirty 2nd Graders engaged (not lost) in a lesson.

 

I am also a little twitchy about the use of "number sentence." I'm not sure if this is more or less helpful to replace "equation" in the long run.

[Ellie]

If you teach the dc "equation" now when they are little, they won't be confused when they get to higher maths. :-)

[stripe]

I avoid it, too, but I don't let it bother me. I just use the term "equation." The only terms my kids dislike are subtrahend and minuend. I have to say, I agree with them.

[Momling]

I totally agree. It makes me twitchy too. I just say equation instead.

[silver]

I have tutored college algebra students that have not mastered "the vocabulary of math." They just need to be told that [vocabulary word] is just a big fancy word for [something they are already familiar with, and doing.]

 

...

 

Number sentence is a simplification of the word "equation." Most kids are familiar with what a number is, and with what a sentence is. It is easier for the kids to remember what you are talking about; especially if you are trying to keep thirty 2nd Graders engaged (not lost) in a lesson.

 

I am also a little twitchy about the use of "number sentence." I'm not sure if this is more or less helpful to replace "equation" in the long run.

 

 

I can understand this with other things (like your fraction terminology example). I think "equation" is less confusing than most math terms, since most people can grasp what an equals sign is and equation sounds similar enough that you probably don't even need to explain their relation.

 

I know that with my son he quickly grasped "equation" but "sentence" (as in "tell me a sentence that uses this word") took a bit of explaining, examples, and time for him to grasp. So for him, "number sentence" would have just been making things more complicated. :laugh:

[merry gardens]

The phrase "math sentence" seems like something used by language-artsy people who promote doing math with a pencil and spelling with a pen. :p Somehow they think it's easier to put math in grammar terms, when what they are really risk doing is confusing children with strong math and poor language skills about both equations and sentences.

[Kathryn]

Oh my goodness! I never could quite figure out what a "number sentence" was supposed to be. I always just tell DS, "it looks like they want you to make an equation."

[The Way of My People]

I agree! Saxon Math is always asking DS to write a "number sentence." He was totally confused about it for a while, wondering why English sentences have to begin with a capital letter and end with a period while "number sentences" don't. Now I just say "equation."

[Crimson Wife]

This is one of my pet peeves in Singapore Primary Mathematics. Just tell kids to write an equation if that's what you want them to do.

[Mom2TheTeam]

I don't like number sentence either. I change it to equation. But, I do sometimes say number sentence. I feel like it's good for him to know both...but maybe it doesn't matter. Either way, I use equation more, but he knows both.