Commentary Alberta is hoping to pilot a new K-6 curriculum soon, and not surprisingly it has upset some parents, the NDP, and the teachers’ union. There are a lot of entrenched interests standing in the way, but hopefully Albertans will see this curriculum implemented. It is guided by the best evidence about student learning and developing critical thinking skills. The new curriculum rejects the discovery-learning model promoted in Canadian curricula since the 2000s. Discovery learning’s roots go back much earlier, to American theorist John Dewey who advanced the idea in the early 1900s. It has remained popular ever since, despite its failings. Several of the western provinces introduced discovery learning into math curricula around 2006. As a result, Alberta’s students have only become less math proficient. Writing in The Edmonton Journal, David Staples reports, “Major international tests started to show a doubling of our innumeracy rate, from about six per …