Nhận biết (M1)

Text 1

Many educators maintain that requiring students to memorize multiplication tables is outdated. With calculators and computers universally available, they argue, limited class time is better spent teaching conceptual understanding than drilling rote facts that machines can supply instantly and flawlessly.

Text 2

Cognitive scientist Daniel Ansari notes that fluent, automatic retrieval of basic arithmetic facts frees up working memory for higher-order problem solving. Students who must laboriously compute 7 × 8 each time it arises, he observes, have fewer mental resources left over for the multistep reasoning that genuine conceptual mastery demands.

Based on the texts, how would Ansari (Text 2) most likely respond to the “educators” referenced in Text 1?

• A.

  By conceding that memorization of arithmetic facts offers students no measurable benefit.

• B.

  By arguing that the availability of calculators has rendered conceptual understanding unnecessary.

• C.

  By contending that fact memorization and conceptual understanding are complementary rather than opposed.

• D.

  By recommending that class time be devoted exclusively to drilling arithmetic facts.