Following The Homework For A Six Year Old...

[ferlew]

My 8 year old grandson was asked to do some homework on 'fronted adverbials'.
My son rang me to ask what they were as he had no idea, neither did I, since looking them up I feel it's a load of bliddy rubbish, folks just do not talk like that.
"As fast as he could, the rabbit hopped"
Sounds more like Yoda than a lesson for an 8 year old.

[murraymints]

Log book was all we were allowed !

[fiction-factory]

I wonder if numeracy skills started to deteriorate when our parents (grandparents in jim's case) were allowed to use slide rules or log tables

[Old_Geezer]

Did schoolkids ever use slide rules ? They weren't cheap.

Log tables were explained, one first learnt where the information came from, and once that knowledge was part of foundation understanding the use of tables were not such a big deal. It didn't work out the answer for you.

[Old_Geezer]

I think it depends on whether one can do the mental arithmetic first Jim. When totally au fait with that then limited use of calculators might help. Just so long as one isn't just entering the equation and pressing the button.

[murraymints]

We knew our tables up to 13x by 6 and were tested daily by snap classroom questions.

[fiction-factory]

No- but it reduced a long multiplicatio or division calculation to a much simpler addition/subtraction. And we even had square root and reciprocal tables. The mathematicians in Ancient Greece managed to get by without them

[jim360]

Just to clarify, OG, I was surprised at that study too. Maybe it makes some sense really -- but, as you say, calculators aren't much use if you aren't familiar with the principles.

[fiction-factory]

Yes, calculators are an aid but you need to know which operations to use and when to enter brackets or press equals at intermediate stages- and also be able to estimate the answer first so you can check the calculator answer makes sense

[Old_Geezer]

Square roots and reciprocals are the sort of things one can work out in the margin. The first is guess, try it, then guess again a little closer, etc.. The second is just division.

[murraymints]

Don't kids get marks for workings ?

[fiction-factory]

Yes, if the question is worth more than one mark you can get marks for your working.
You should write down the calculation before you do it on a calculator

[fiction-factory]

We seemed to have moved away from fronted adverbials- sorry ferlew.

[jim360]

Unfortunately, threads drifting from the original topic is all too common on AB.

[jno]

I see what you did there.

[ferlew]

Thanks for all the input, I still think it's a load of tosh.

[emmie]

what the funicular, i have no idea what fronted adverbials is, sounds like some anti social disease.

[Mamyalynne]

It's the fancy title that confuses, once made clear they are easier to comprehend.

https://www.theschoolrun.com/what-are-fronted-adverbials