Worried About Kids' Math Thinking Skills These Days
I teach middle school kids at a cram school, and more and more of them just write down answers without showing the solving process. They'll score 70 on a test, but when I ask why they chose that answer, they have no explanation.
I thought, maybe it's because AI just gives them the answers? But honestly, from the kids' perspective, the bigger issue seems to be that solving habits haven't been built—rather than just accepting 'the answer is that way' without any verification.
So I've changed my approach: I make them write out the whole process, and give partial credit for the process even when the answer is wrong. Their expressive skills are definitely improving a bit, but it takes a while.
3 answers
Yeah, that's right. There's been a noticeable increase in people just writing down the answer lately.
I teach at an academy too, and when I tell students to write out the process, they fumble a lot at first. But if you keep making them do it, they eventually get better at explaining things in their own words. Even if it takes a long time, I think that's the right approach lol