Don't they teach Pythagoras any more?

[Dancergirl]

I was having a chat with dd1 tonight who's in Year 7. She had never heard of Pythagoras, it wasn't taught in primary school and so far, not in Year 7.

I remember learning it in Year 6. I know teaching maths has changed a lot over the years but surely this is fundamental?

[LadyMaryQuiteContrary]

IIRC that's GCSE stuff.

[ShatnersBassoon]

I was in senior school when I learnt about Pythagoras. Y7 or 8, not sure which. 20+ years ago.

[Devora]

I definitely learned this in secondary school. Couldn't tell you what it's all about now, though.

[Sparklingbrook]

DS1 is doing that now. Year 9.

[MrsBungle]

I definitely did not learn about Pythagoras until about 3rd year of high school.

[5madthings]

I learnt it in high school, my ds1 is in yr 9 and he has done it in the last year.

[Dancergirl]

I'm v surprised?

Is Maths being dumbed down? It's not a difficult concept for bright 10/11 year olds....

[ArbitraryUsername]

I didn't learn Pythagoras until 2nd year at high school. DS1 learnt it in Y7 and I was surprised he was learning it so early. He's been doing trigonometry this year too (in Y8).

[BackforGood]

I'd say either your memory is playing tricks, or you were very unusual. I was at grammar school in the 70s and we didn't do it until we were there - and, I think probably 2nd or 3rd year, not (what would now be) Yr7

[stargirl1701]

I learned it at secondary too. 1980s.

[Victoria3012]

My son is in year 7 and he is learning Pythagoras theory, so yes they do teach it.

[chickensaladagain]

I did it in 2nd year grammar school

Dd has covered it in yr 6 but there were only 4 of them that did it

[Victoria3012]

Theorem bloody phone x

[Schooldidi]

I teach it in year 8 to our top sets, the lower sets don't meet it til GCSE.

Dd1 is in top set year 8 at a different school and they haven't met it yet. They have done some pretty impressive algebra for year 8 though.

I'm fairly certain that I learnt it in year 9, as we then did basic trig straight after, so spent weeks learning about right angled triangles.

[Dancergirl]

Nope backforgood def year 6. I even remember drawing the triangle and having the squared paper along each side. Bog standard state primary.

[JollyOrangeGiant]

I'm pretty sure we were taught it in my first year of secondary school. In a selective independent school though, so possibly that is not the norm.

[ouryve]

I didn't do pythagoras until 4th year middle school - when we did the CSE syllabus because we were sofacking clever. So that was year 8, ahead of time for the 1980s.

[Dancergirl]

I wonder what else has been taken off the primary curriculum...?

[ArbitraryUsername]

I'm not sure it ever was a standard part of the primary curriculum.

[ArbitraryUsername]

Not that there was a standardised primary curriculum back in the day. But I don't think it was routinely taught to 10 year olds at any point.

[MrsBungle]

Was it on the primary curriculum though ? Most folk on this thread say they didn't do it until secondary school.

[StuffezLaYoni]

Did it with my year 6 as a fun extension of their work on triangles a while back. Think they have different ideas as to what constitutes fun...! However, they got it and were quite impressed with it so I'm glad we did it. I found a very good visual website aimed at kids - it showed the edges of the triangle extended into squares, which IMO helped them grasp it a lot quicker.

[stealthsquiggle]

No idea. Shall ask Y6 maths geek DS in the morning.

[MelanieCheeks]

Yeah the common curriculum is a fairly recent idea. Before that, individual schools, teachers and classes could study what seemed appropriate to them. So yes you may well have done it at primary school, but today's children won't necessarily learn the same things in the same order.

[Dancergirl]

Yes that's what we did stuffez but in a much lower tech form! We cut out squares of paper and stuck them to each side of the triangle.

Funny the things you remember!