These columns have tended to focus over the last two weeks on the apparent determination of the Alberta Department of Education to apply what is called the “Discovery” method to the teaching of elementary mathematics. Put simply, it means that the student “discovers” on his own the multiplication table rather than learning it by rote memory. What is rarely if ever explained, however, is why so-called “progressive” educators are so persistent in the student “discovering” the tables rather than simply memorizing them.
