Is Canada a Math Education Power House?

[vc_row][vc_column][nd_options_image nd_options_image="10993" nd_options_width="100%"][vc_column_text]Canada’s most recent results (2015) in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which include mathematics, science and reading every 3 years for 15 year old students have been much admired.[/vc_column_text][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_column_text]In August 2017, the BBC called Canada “education superpower” because we were one of the top ranking countries. However, in–depth analysis indicates that our high school students’ performance, of mathematics in particular, has remained stagnant or declined over the past decade. Canada’s improved ranking was due in part to decrease in the performances of students in some countries.¹[/vc_column_text][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_column_text]According to the C.D. Howe Institute Commentary (No. 27 May 2015), a “strong grasp of mathematics is required for success in the workforce, and early achievement in math is one of the best predictors of later academic success and future career options.”[/vc_column_text][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="30"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][nd_options_text nd_options_text_tag="h3" nd_options_text_weight="bold" nd_options_text_family="nd_options_first_font" nd_options_text="Comparisons of Provinces" nd_options_text_font_size="20" nd_options_text_line_height="20"][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_column_text]In the 2015 PISA results, Canada declined in Math scores overall compared to the last assessment in 2012.² Generally, Math has become a divisive issue across the country as test scores declined or remained flat in every province except Quebec and Prince Edward Island.[/vc_column_text][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_column_text]Quebec not only improved its score but continued to come out top in Mathematics relative to the Canadian average in the PISA results while Ontario and provinces in the Maritimes and Prairies were below the average. Of interest is PEI which improved its score over the last PISA results despite being below the national average.[/vc_column_text][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_column_text]Although the 2015 PISA results stated that there might be a non-response bias in Quebec, other assessments have ranked Quebec as the leader in Mathematics. In the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program (PCAP) for Grade 8 students, Quebec was the only province that is above the national average in Mathematics. Ontario on the other hand was the sole province that showed no improvement over a period from 2010 – 2016 in this latest PCAP report.[/vc_column_text][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="30"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][nd_options_text nd_options_text_tag="h3" nd_options_text_weight="bold" nd_options_text_family="nd_options_first_font" nd_options_text="Proportion of Grade 6 students in Ontario meeting the provincial math standard decreased from 57% in 2013 to 49% in 2018" nd_options_text_font_size="20" nd_options_text_line_height="20"][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_column_text]In the 2018 Education, Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) results, the percentage of elementary Grade 3 and Grade 6 students meeting the provincial math standard decreased over the last five years.³ An increasingly number of families has sought private tutoring to boost the students’ grades and it’s possible that the scores might even be worse without this.[/vc_column_text][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_column_text]Results for Grade 3 students fell to 61% in 2018 from 67% in 2013. More alarming was the results for Grade 6 students which decreased from 57% in 2013 to 49% in 2018.[/vc_column_text][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_column_text]In high school, of the 96,996 Grade 9 Academic stream math students, 84% did well and met the provincial math standard which remained high over the last five years. However, the 33,451 students enrolled in the Applied stream struggled with 45% in 2018 meeting provincial standard.[/vc_column_text][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_column_text]Although the results for the Academic and Applies Grade 9 streams have been stable, there is a need to improve the performances of students in the latter. Some experts have said that eliminating streaming is the way to go. In a Toronto Star article (January 2018), it was said that TDSB was going to de-stream over 3 years.[/vc_column_text][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_single_image image="10975" img_size="full" alignment="center"][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="30"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][nd_options_text nd_options_text_tag="h3" nd_options_text_weight="bold" nd_options_text_family="nd_options_first_font" nd_options_text="Divisive issue of Math education across Canada" nd_options_text_font_size="20" nd_options_text_line_height="20"][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_column_text]There are two different camps on how to approach the stagnation or decline in math education across Canada.[/vc_column_text][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_single_image image="10980" img_size="full" alignment="center"][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_column_text]Many educators and families are pushing for the Traditional Math Method saying that the Discovery Math Model introduced in the Canadian curriculum has led to a decline in the math standard in the country. They contend that the key is to devote more class time to work on basic fundamentals like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, decimals and fractions.[/vc_column_text][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_column_text]This Traditional approach has been strongly advocated in the research done by Anna Stokke in the C.D. Howe Institute commentary (Commentary No. 427 May 2015). According to this commentary, “student fluency with particular math concepts, such as fraction arithmetic, in early and middle years has been shown to predict future math success”.[/vc_column_text][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_column_text]On the other side, proponents of Discovery Math stress on problem-based and experiential learning where students need to apply thinking skills to problem solve in our increasingly complex and globalization world. To them, math education should not be limited to computational skills in arithmetic; non-computational skills such as data analysis plays a very important part in Big Data analytics where large amounts of data are studied to find hidden patterns, correlations and other insights to help us understand our society better.[/vc_column_text][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="30"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][nd_options_text nd_options_text_tag="h3" nd_options_text_weight="bold" nd_options_text_family="nd_options_first_font" nd_options_text="Pueblo Science’s Hands-on Math Activities" nd_options_text_font_size="20" nd_options_text_line_height="20"][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_column_text]With our Canadian and international RISE programs, Pueblo Science has been delivering activities and learning kits to engage young students in math and sciences through active, hands-on learning experiences, discovery, experimentation and problem-solving opportunities.[/vc_column_text][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_column_text]For example, to teach about probability distributions, we use marbles falling down a pyramid of styrofoam cups; we present several math concepts such as basic statistics and the mobius strip, and more broadly, how to approach problem solving and estimation through mathemagic tricks and demonstrations with lots of class and audience participation![/vc_column_text][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_single_image image="10984" img_size="large" alignment="center"][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="30"][vc_column_text]This blog article was written by Russell K. Hassan.[/vc_column_text][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="30"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][nd_options_text nd_options_text_tag="h3" nd_options_text_weight="bold" nd_options_text_family="nd_options_first_font" nd_options_text="Sources" nd_options_text_font_size="20" nd_options_text_line_height="20"][nd_options_spacer nd_options_height="10"][vc_column_text]¹ https://theconversation.com/why-canada-fails-to-be-an-education-superpower-82558² Council of Ministers of Education Canada (CMEC). Measuring up: Canadian Results of the OECD PISA Study  2015 First Results for Canadians Aged 15³ http://www.eqao.com/en/assessments/results. No testing in the 2014-15 school year due to labour disruption⁴ www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/news (April 30 2018)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]