''MathLand'' was one of several elementary mathematics curricula that were designed around the 1989
NCTM standards
''Principles and Standards for School Mathematics'' (''PSSM'') are guidelines produced by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) in 2000, setting forth recommendations for mathematics educators. They form a national vision for pres ...
. It was developed and published by Creative Publications and was initially adopted by the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and schools run by the US Department of Defense by the mid 1990s. Unlike curricula such as
Investigations in Numbers, Data, and Space
Investigations in Numbers, Data, and Space is a K–5 mathematics curriculum, developed at TERC in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The curriculum is often referred to as ''Investigations'' or simply ''TERC''. Patterned after the NCTM stan ...
, by 2007 Mathland was no longer offered by the publisher, and has since been dropped by many early adopters. Its demise may have been, at least in part, a result of intense scrutiny by critics (see below).
Adoption
Mathland was among the math curricula rated as "promising" by an Education Department panel, although subsequently 200 mathematicians and scientists, including four Nobel Prize recipients and two winners of the
Fields Medal
The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award ho ...
, published a letter in the Washington Post deploring the findings of that panel. MathLand was adopted in many California school districts as its material most closely fit the legal mandate of the 1992 California Framework. That framework has since been discredited and abandoned as misguided and replaced by a newer standard based on
traditional mathematics
Traditional mathematics (sometimes classical math education) was the predominant method of mathematics education in the United States in the early-to-mid 20th century. This contrasts with non-traditional approaches to math education.
Standard Arithmetic
MathLand does not teach standard arithmetic algorithms, including carrying and borrowing. Such methods familiar to adults are absent from the curriculum, and so would need to be supplemented if desired. The standard method for multi-digit multiplication is not presented until 6th grade, and then only as an example of how it is error-prone. Instead a Russian peasants' algorithm for calculating 13 x 18 = 234 is favored. By cutting and pasting various strips of paper, it can be solved by simply using 3 divisions, 3 multiplications, a cancellation, and an addition of three numbers.
Sixth graders are asked to solve following problem:
"I just checked out a library book that is 1,344 pages long! The book is due in 3 weeks. How many pages will I need to read a day to finish the book in time?"
Long division is not used to divide 1,344 by 21. Instead, the curriculum guide explains that "division in MathLand is not a separate operation to master, but rather a combination of successive approximations, multiplication, adding up and subtracting back, all held together with the students' own number sense."
Criticisms
Debra J. Saunders of the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' calls Mathland a math curriculum that prefers not to give lessons with "predetermined numerical results." Kings County fourth-grade teacher Doug Swords says that 14 out of 18 teachers use MathLand only as a supplement. When asked if MathLand was helpful in teaching kids to multiply, he responded "No, quite frankly".http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/10/17/ED92574.DTL Debra J. Saunders Where's the Math? DEBRA J. SAUNDERS San Francisco Chronicle Sunday, October 17, 1999
In a letter published in '' Stars and Stripes'' concerning the education of children by the Department of Defense, Denise McArthur wrote that "according to Dr. Wu, mathematics professor at
U.C. Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
, the Interactive Math series is quite the worst math text I have ever come across". Another mathematician wrote, in the Notices of the
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, "I respectfully urge the AMS leadership to withdraw its endorsement of the NCTM Standards. The Standards have paved the way for elementary pedagogies such as MathLand, which fail to develop the standard multiplication algorithm for elementary students". And another, "...the proposed MathLand materials, address neither our children's lack of basic skills nor their poor performance on tests ... it wholeheartedly embraces the philosophy of the "reform" movement ... a movement that is being seriously questioned by the mathematical and educational community ... it would be foolish to adopt something with such obvious inadequacies."http://www.mathematicallycorrect.com/stars2.htm The Stars and Stripes
August 7, 1997 Parents' cry can subtract MathLand
Mathland had fallen out of favor by the mid-2000s and was no longer offered by Creative Publications as of 2007.