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I think you need both.

If you teach maths in a JIT fashion, when do you learn "basic facts" like 3+4=7?

If you don't teach that stuff systematically, how do students get to the point where they feel they can apply maths reliably - e.g. adding prices together in their head?

So you need both - a solid foundation, plus applications using that foundation plus a bit more.



Absolutely you need both. We agree there. And any reasonable curriculum - in practice - will be a combination. But the curriculum will still be organized in some fashion, it's a very high-level document after all. And that's where one or the other flavor will come through.


I disagree that "3+4=7" is a basic fact of math.

Basic facts of math are for example ZFC axioms of Set theory.

I only learned some set theory in high school. My point being, that teaching math is unexpectedly surprisingly top-down, at least at first.


3+4=7 is what NZ primary school teachers mean when they say "basic facts."

Source: I have two children in NZ primary schools.




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