Children in the US are being banned from using their fingers to count at school.
“Schools across the country regularly ban finger use in classrooms or communicate to students that they are babyish,” says Jo Boaler in The Atlantic.
Parents have taken to social media to argue that their children should be allowed to finger count.
“It broke my heart when my daughter who struggles with math was told by her teacher, she couldn’t use her fingers,” said Monica Lannon on Facebook.
Father Alex Wood posted: “My son’s 3rd grade math teacher wouldn’t let him pass his times tables because he used his fingers. I don’t get it. Not everyone has photographic memory and some struggle to memorise at all.”
“I have always and still use my fingers to count, and I will always encourage my children to do the same if it’s easier for them, despite the crazy ways they are being taught in the classroom. Everyone learns differently, ” another parent, Kimberly Seaver, added.
Although finger counting is discouraged in maths classes in the US, it could lead to advanced thinking in mathematics.
Finger representation and finger-based strategies “play an important role in learning and understanding arithmetic”, a recent study found.
Researchers studied the area of the brain that is linked with finger counting and visual representations of numbers, the “somatosensory finger area”.
Forty children between eight and 13-years-old performed subtraction and a multiplication tasks while in a fMRI scanner – then that area of the brain lit up, even when they were given more complex maths problems.
The somatosensory finger area was active even when the children weren’t using their fingers. It’s the first evidence that the area has a functional role in more advanced mathematics.
Researchers Ilaria Berteletti and James R. Boot concluded that educational practices should “encourage the use of fingers”.
“These results also encourage educational practices to focus on finger discrimination as a precursor of numerical and arithmetical skill.”
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Top Comments
This is stupid. Like... really stupid. It's been said in the comments all kids learn differently. That is true. i was also picking up on words such as memory. This is the problem. The education system in America is geared towards testing and knowledge. it doesn't help with giving kids strategies to think, or equip them with skills to think critically or creatively. This is one such example.
As a preservice primary educator, I can't begin to tell you how often I've seen kids even in grade 5 using their fingers to count. Counting on using fingers or other manipulatives is an effective strategy and it pays off in the long run, especially with children who are not as strong in mathematics as other children.
And also according to the curriculum for Australia, no, kids aren't REQUIRED to have memorized the times tables anymore. They need to know them, but not have committed them to memory. If they can, great, they're operating around a year higher than their current grade level. If not, no biggie.
It's the same with area and perimeter. One would expect perimeter to be taught before area, but area is now taught at yr2, and perimeter is not introduced until yr3.
By 3rd grade I can understand banning finger counting.
But not all children will be at the same level, even if they are placed in the same grade. Schools are no longer allowed to hold children back grades, so even if the children aren't ready they are sent to the next level. And is there an issue with using your fingers to count? As far as I can tell, it doesn't prevent you from learning higher maths skills; it just gives you a habit to help you count.
I agree. In year 3 you are expected to know your timetables off by heart. If you don't, you're not proficient.
Why? It does nothing but disadvantage many kids who still need to use it as a technique
Many many adults use it on a daily basis
What you rather, them pull out their phones calculator?
I still dont know that, some kids never get maths, why punish them for that