Remember the three “R’s”? Reading, writing and ‘rithmetic? Phonetically correct, the alliterative effect imprinted on generations of school kids the accepted primary responsibility to our schools for student instruction.
Along the way, another “R”, “rote”, got added. Now, rote really can be good if such learning, like multiplication tables and skip counting, allows children to perform other math functions. But rote is a killer if the robot-effect takes over and no thinking takes place.
A formula could be 3R + Rote = Robots. Useful as robots are, they can’t think. That’s exactly why they’re the perfect “employee” in many settings. Robots perform, without reasoning, endless repetitions of the task at hand. Never bored, never on strike, never ill. But think about a world full of humans with only robot-like reasoning abilities.
It is past time for a fourth “R” to be added to the curriculum. That “R” is reasoning. That “R”, according to the best research information, can only be developed in children through repeated experiences with materials (not paper and pencils) which allow them to develop thinking and reasoning abilities. They must have settings where they move, explore, count, create, build, evaluate, rebuild.
Skip counting, for example, is a “short cut” which is easily discovered as children work with materials and peers in daily activities. Think of all the naturally occurring pairs there are: eyes, ears, hands, arms, feet, elbows, etc. Think of determining the amount of supplies needed “if each child gets 2 coins …”
Pretty soon, even the children with less-well-developed math skills will stop counting 1,2; 3,4; 5,6; 7,8, and figure they can simply say the last number of each group, i.e., 2, 4, 6, 8, etc. That discovery, once made, is not forgotten. Unlike rote learning, which is often unrelated to experiences, discovered learning involves the learning in the experience which produces the learning and imprints the information into long term memory for later retrieval and use.
Long before civilization developed the need for written communications and calculations, man survived by his reasoning skills. Tools were discovered by experiences, weapons developed through trial and error manipulations.
Early North American tribes developed strong family systems, values, communities, all by reasoning and thinking skills, not as a result of formal math, language, or writing instruction. Generations of Americans who could be termed “functionally illiterate” survived, were employed, raised families and contributed to their communities by using their reasoning ability, developed through experiences with activities, objects and people.
If I could pick only one skill to develop, I think it would be thinking. Thinking, after all, lets all the other tools we gather … math, reading, writing, etc., be employed by us in a useful manner. If we want reasoners, not robots; if we want folks on juries capable of thinking; if we want folks who can solve, not create, problems, we need to teach the “fourth “R” first. Without the fourth “R”, the original three aren’t enough.
Darby Kethan has a master's degree in child development, and has experience as a social worker, educator of young children, educational consultant, and as a professional trainer for a national educational foundation providing professional development to teachers. Visit her website at darbykethan.com.
