Informing teachers about what research recommends in the field of learning: this is the vocation of the Scientific Council of National Education (CSEN), which, on March 20, released a collective work Science and school: together to learn better (Odile Jacob). The president of the CSEN, Stanislas Dehaene, signs a chapter devoted to the teaching of mathematics and provides L’Express with the essential avenues to follow to stem the very worrying drop in the level of students.
L’Express: In February 2022, the Scientific Council of National Education published a warning note on mathematics. For what reasons ?
Stanislas Dehaene: It all started from work that we carried out with Depp, the National Education statistical service, to measure the knowledge of students at the start of 6th grade on whole numbers, decimals and fractions. The results obtained are very worrying: when asked to place decimal numbers on a line between 0 and 5, the error rate of these young people interviewed is 20%, and it rises to 80% for fractions. , even as simple as 1/2 or 3/2. The error rate remains close to 50% in general seconds. These shortcomings are partly explained by the fact that we introduce these notions too late: fractions are on the program from CM1 but, in practice, many teachers only mention them in CM2, often towards the end of the year. year, and in a too formal way. One of our recommendations is to approach them much earlier, from kindergarten, drawing inspiration from the Singapore method.
What are the main principles of this method which allowed Singapore to rise to the top of the Pisa international ranking?
I would like to point out that, in this South-East Asian country, we do not speak of the “Singapore method” strictly speaking because, in reality, decision-makers made their market around the world around ten years ago. years in order to list the best teaching methods. From there, the Singaporean Ministry of Education designed a remarkably structured curriculum, which progresses smoothly from the concrete to the abstract and includes all dimensions of mathematics, instead of focusing on calculation as in France. From the first year, equivalent to our CP, there is a lot of concrete work on measuring time, length or geometric shapes. It may seem paradoxical, but learning to divide a length into four, a hexagon into six triangles, or an hour into four quarters of an hour of fifteen minutes each, is already working on fractions! Many of these activities were already practiced in France in the past. The whole challenge today is to put them back at the center of our teaching.
The CSEN places great emphasis on the importance of these principles on which “explicit teaching” is based and whose effectiveness has been proven by numerous scientific works….
Indeed, spontaneously, many teachers prefer to focus on the pedagogy of discovery. “When a middle school student is faced with a new exercise, what is your attitude?, we asked them as part of a study (Praesco survey carried out by Depp in 2019). Do you explain to them first strategies that will help him solve it? Or do you wait for the child to find the answer himself, even if it means he fails or makes mistakes?” The results show that 80% of respondents opt for this second path. The idea of explicit teaching, acclaimed by research, consists on the contrary of placing teachers at the heart of learning. It is up to them to organize teaching in a rational way, to guide and support students going from the simplest to the most complex. To do this, they benefit from being guided by well-structured manuals which describe, step by step, the best way to help children progress. This is why the Ministry of National Education is currently considering a labeling system which would validate the content of certain works.
How to proceed to introduce students to mathematics from kindergarten?
Much work shows that it is possible to put young children on the right track in mathematics using fun but powerful mental tools. The concept of a “number line”, where numbers are aligned from left to right, is fundamental. It can be introduced by board games which consist of throwing a die and seeing how many places you advance. It’s a good way to make the connection between number and movement in space, and it prepares you for more abstract concepts, like reading mathematical graphs consisting of x and y axes. Counting games, such as Good pay, also familiarize them with the handling of numbers and decimal notation, because giving change requires making additions or subtractions. Finally, geometric patterns are an essential component of learning mathematics. From kindergarten, a student can understand shapes, their sides, their lengths. All sorts of lovely problems arise: can I divide a square into two other squares? No, on the other hand I can get four squares if I divide it by four. By having fun with geometric patterns, we concretely approach operations as essential as rotation, translation or homothety.
According to your recommendations, this mathematical vocabulary must be acquired very early. For what reasons ?
Mathematical language, from kindergarten onwards, draws attention to the abstract properties of the world. The issue is absolutely key, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, who often suffer from a glaring vocabulary deficit from their first steps at school. When it comes to mathematics, emphasis should be placed not only on the names of shapes and numbers, but also on terms related to fractions (half, third, double), verbs (add, subtract, divide, multiply) or spatial prepositions (between, above, below, behind) that students will use throughout their schooling. And then, children love learning sophisticated words like “diamond” or “parallelepiped”, so why deprive yourself of it!
International studies show that French students master behavioral skills less than their foreign counterparts. How to cure it ?
Mathematics can develop motivation, a sense of effort and perseverance. Our school absolutely must succeed in transmitting a taste for learning to students. Approaching mathematics through geometric patterns, as we have just seen, is more interesting for students than limiting themselves to counting or memorizing multiplication tables, even if both are necessary. Self-confidence must also be encouraged. Any child can understand what the fraction “1/2” corresponds to, but the teachers themselves must be convinced of this and fight against this attitude which says that some children are naturally gifted and others not. This self-fulfilling prediction only reinforces the stereotypes that students, especially girls, already apply to themselves.
Does France have a chance of getting back into the Pisa ranking in the short or medium term?
There are encouraging signs. Certain measures taken five years ago, such as the splitting of CP and CE1 classes in establishments classified as priority networks, are starting to bear fruit. But these organizational measures can only be truly effective if they are accompanied by a real educational effort. Hence the importance of reviewing and improving teacher training, an area in which France lags far behind other countries such as Singapore, Belgium or Canada. All teachers, before teaching first grade for example, should have received specific training in the science of reading or mathematics. Our scientific council works to provide them, as well as their trainers, with the necessary elements.
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