| How Important are Times Tables, Really? | | | | numeration system, which will help develop numeracy. |
| This article is the introduction to a series of expert | | | | * Many non-experts, lay people, believe that knowing |
| articles on strategies for teaching times tables. Feel | | | | your times tables is important. Many of these people |
| free to add comments after the article. Note that | | | | have some influence in the worlds inhabited by your |
| some people (myself included) call these "Number | | | | students: their parents, grandparents, future |
| Facts"; the two terms are essentially interchangeable. | | | | employers. Teaching students number facts will hardly |
| Let's deal with the biggest question regarding the | | | | ever result in resistance or criticism from these |
| teaching of number facts: Is it important today? | | | | people. Rather, they are overwhelmingly likely to |
| Cons: Why Some Consider Times Tables | | | | congratulate you. I recommend that you engage their |
| Unnecessary | | | | help in supporting your students in the learning of |
| On the negative side: | | | | times tables. |
| * It is clear that knowing your tables is not as | | | | Dealing With Sacred Cows |
| important as it once was; calculators enable anyone | | | | As in many areas of life, there are multitudes of |
| to find out a number fact quickly (but not instantly). | | | | opinions about the teaching of times tables. Some |
| In the old days, if you didn't know a times table you | | | | people seem to think they have a monopoly on truth |
| couldn't do your job in a factory or shop, a pretty | | | | which borders on a God complex. Allow me to |
| serious drawback. | | | | humbly put my view on this, based on over 30 years |
| * Learning times tables is challenging, and requires | | | | experience as an educator and a doctorate in |
| quite a bit of mental effort. Some students just don't | | | | mathematics education. |
| seem to "get it", and it can take a long time to | | | | Firstly, there isn't one right answer about this (there |
| attempt it. | | | | hardly ever is). You may believe that learning times |
| * Calculator batteries don't go flat, so don't bother | | | | tables is an anachronism, a throwback to the distant |
| mentioning it. Everyone has a calculator within easy | | | | past. Fine. You may believe that teachers' and |
| access, most of the time. | | | | students' time is better spent on other, presumably |
| * It's 2010, for goodness sake! Times tables were | | | | more important, math topics. OK, I get it. But you will |
| needed when adding machines were expensive and | | | | have to come up with a better argument than 'times |
| slow, but not any more. Times change, and so should | | | | have changed'. Of course they have, but 6 times 7 is |
| teaching priorities and methods. | | | | still 42, and knowing that instantly is still useful. There |
| * There are other, more important topics for the | | | | simply is no good reason to say otherwise. You may |
| busy teacher to devote time to. Younger teachers | | | | prefer other methods for students' finding what 6 |
| may not even know number facts themselves. | | | | sevens equals, but for me recalling the answer in a |
| Pros: Why Times Tables are Essential for All Students | | | | second or two beats other methods hands down. |
| Now for the positive side of this debate: | | | | Secondly, even if your students didn't need to know |
| * All mathematics depends on certain foundations, | | | | their number facts now, they will in the future. Failing |
| including rules for the numeration system, operators, | | | | to equip them with the ability to recall number facts |
| symbolic systems, and so on. Most mathematics | | | | instantly is to handicap them in the future. If you |
| learned in school and university requires ability to find | | | | could transport yourself through time to a future |
| basic number facts quickly. | | | | class your student is taking in which they need to |
| * Sure, a calculator can be used, but it is much less | | | | recall a simple times table fact, and you saw them |
| convenient, and much slower than a person who has | | | | reach for a calculator to find the answer, what might |
| committed number facts to memory. (Teaching | | | | you do differently today? I know what I would do. |
| strategy: play 'unarmed combat', in which one student | | | | Thirdly, let me speak frankly as an educator who |
| has a calculator, and one uses his or her memory | | | | teaches future teachers at university level. After at |
| alone. The memory will win if facts have been | | | | least 12 years of school, the majority of these |
| sufficiently memorised. For an even more dramatic | | | | students can't remember the more challenging |
| demonstration, ask a number fact without warning, | | | | number facts to help themselves. They reach for |
| so students who don't know them have to look for | | | | their mobile phone when I ask them, and find it so |
| their calculator first!) | | | | difficult to cope in an exam in which calculators are |
| * The date has nothing to do with it. No amount of | | | | not permitted. Are they happier, better adjusted? Do |
| technology will remove the benefit to a person of | | | | they know other mathematics concepts better, since |
| having memorised the basic number facts. Having to | | | | their brains aren't crowded with unnecessary times |
| input data into a technological calculating device, no | | | | tables? Of course not. On the contrary, those who |
| matter how quick, takes longer than mentally recalling | | | | don't know their number facts hardly know any |
| the answer, and requires less brain 'processing power'. | | | | mathematics, they are confused about most topics, |
| * Times tables are not difficult, memorising them just | | | | and they need to go back to basics to learn what is |
| takes time. Except for those with a specific mental | | | | in the primary/elementary mathematics curriculum for |
| disability or learning disability, anyonecan successfully | | | | the second time. Only this time around, their future |
| learn all the number facts in a few weeks. The | | | | teaching career could depend on the result, and they |
| approach favoured by mathematics educators like | | | | are struggling to reach understanding of what they |
| me is to teach strategies which will equip students | | | | could have learned as an 8- or 9-year-old. Am I |
| with ways to find a number fact if it hasn't been | | | | frustrated? You bet, but not with my students. My |
| remembered yet; specific strategies are explained in | | | | beef is with a schooling system that has sold |
| detail in other posts. | | | | teachers a bill of goods, that times tables are not |
| * The discipline of learning number facts is beneficial | | | | important, and that electronic calculating technology |
| for students. It requires focussed mental attention | | | | has removed the need for mental computation ability. |
| and attention to detail, free from distractions; these | | | | Conclusion |
| processes are essential for many important tasks. | | | | Teaching number facts is not all that difficult, but it |
| Learning times tables is effectively a form of 'mental | | | | does require commitment and dedication. Depending |
| workout'. | | | | on the curriculum used in your school, number fact |
| * Using a strategy-based approach to learning | | | | memorization may or may not be a priority. My |
| number facts reinforces mathematical processes and | | | | recommendation is to take whatever opportunities |
| relationships which would simply not arise when using | | | | are available to you, and set the goal for your |
| a calculator. For example, learning that the 5x facts | | | | students of knowing all their number facts by the |
| can be related to multiples of 10 develops familiarity | | | | end of Year 5, or by their 11th birthday. |
| with the idea of 10 being the base for our | | | | |