Tag: <span>learn mathematics</span>

Factors To Consider When Choosing A Math Teacher For Kids

Posted in Education by anshbookstore on October 14, 2021 @ 7:55 pm

Math is a subject that is commonly hated by kids since the formulas and concepts involved are sometimes hard to understand. Of course, there are youngsters who can easily understand them. However, some kids need to exert more effort in order to cope with the subject. Therefore, it is essential to look for educational institutions that have reputable and competent math teacher. In order to determine that a math teacher is capable in teaching your kid properly, listed below are some factors you need to consider.

Teaching skills and techniques

Of course, teachers are knowledgeable about the subject they teach. However, it is essential for teachers to be skillful in teaching kids most especially math lessons. It is essential for parents to determine the teaching skills and techniques of the teacher in order to ensure that their kids can easily and properly understand the subject.

Help motivate kids

Apart from skills and techniques, it is also important for teachers to know how to motivate kids to learn. Teaching is not just about one’s career and salary. They need to consider that they are able to fulfill their role as a teacher. By motivating kids to study, they are able to learn the value of patience and persistence, which can help them in improving their knowledge and skills about math.

Promotes creativity and imagination

Kids are playful and energetic. So, there are times when kids are distracted during their class, which may affect their focus on the lesson. Hence, it is also essential to choose teachers who have wide imagination and creativity. In this way, the instructor can entice kids to listen his discussion. This can also help them ensure that kids can learn math more efficiently. One way of promoting creativity in their lesson is to make use of fun games. By creating games, kids will participate in the lesson since games are a fun way to learn.

Must be patient

Math teachers must also be patient. Kids can learn new things and subject easily. However, math can be very challenging for kids. Therefore, you need to make sure that the math teacher is patient in teaching kids so that they can properly understand the subject.

Manage the classroom properly

Finally, you need to make sure that the teacher manages the classroom properly. This is important to ensure that your kid can learn the subject easily. This can also help kids get rid of distractions during class hours.

By knowing all these, you can be sure that you can choose the ideal teacher to help your child learn and understand math.

Source by Edwin G Marx

14 Sep

Incidental Learning – How Children Learn Math 3

Posted in Education by anshbookstore on September 14, 2021 @ 7:41 pm

What exactly is incidental learning? Incidental learning occurs when a child is engaged in an activity that is essentially fun. This is not something normally associated with math. During the course of the activity the child is actually acquiring knowledge and information almost without realising it, as a sort of by-product of the enjoyable experience in which they are engaged.

Arguably the most effective kind of incidental learning takes place when young children are engaged in activities that can best be described as play. The trick is to draw the knowledge they have acquired incidentally to the level of conscious awareness so they take conscious ownership of what they have un-consciously learnt.

This is in contrast to setting clear learning objectives at the outset of a lesson which is itself an excellent practice and very commonplace in schools. Incidental learning opportunities present far more of a challenge for the teacher and therefore generally tend to be far less common.

I would argue that much of our learning is non-conscious. Schools, for example, make use of displays to communicate information to children. This kind of ‘information immersion’ is used to good effect by advertisers. Just think how easily children ‘learn’ a tune or pop-song. Television can also be a source of incidental learning although, as with displays, of the more passive variety. Incidental learning is far more effective when children are actively engaged in the process.

Some time ago I involved my students in learning science through the medium of drama. It proved extremely effective and the children involved understood and retained quite difficult concepts because they had been actively involved in an enjoyable experience.

I must confess my inspiration for this project was drawn from an episode of Sergeant Bilko entitled ‘Platoon In The Movies’ where Bilko commandeered a camera and created his own movie entitled ‘The Little Spark Plug’ featuring Doberman as the plug. Colonel Hall’s wife was so enraptured that she was able to recite verbatim how to change a spark plug much to the colonel’s astonishment.

Whilst ‘playing’ with the rods young children will have made many important discoveries:

Rods of the same color are also equal in length.
Rods of the same length are equal in color.
Rods of different colors have different lengths.
It is possible to make equal lengths by putting some rods end to end.
Some children will begin to demonstrate an understanding of the commutative property of addition at an early stage. e.g. red plus yellow equals yellow plus red (r + y = y + r ) or numerically (although number is not introduced at this stage) 2 + 5 = 5 + 2

In this way children will begin to acquire their number bonds without even realizing it. They will avoid the horrible necessity of counting on fingers because they will ‘see’ numbers as whole entities and not a combination of disparate units.

At a later stage, when they are asked what two numbers make ten or ‘what must I add to 1, 2, 3… to make ten’, children will be able to visualize the pattern. Fingers will definitely not be needed!

In our next article we begin to explore the link between math and language development as we introduce the vocabulary children will need to express their creation in a written form.

Source by Phil Rowlands

15 Aug

The World Doesn’t Need Another Math Textbook

Posted in Education by anshbookstore on August 15, 2021 @ 7:26 pm

I know this statement is shocking. Some of you may feel that I have announced the end of the civilization as we know it. How in the world will people learn math without the latest and greatest math textbook. The answer is simple. The same way people have always learned math prior to the modern education system, by doing math as they go about their everyday lives. You may ask “Is that possible?” “Would it work?” I believe so. It’s the reason I made this statement when I was asked if my new book, “Math is Child’s Play” was going to be a Math Textbook. But in all fairness, let’s look at both sides, school math versus everyday math.

First let’s look at school math. I have been studying of late the topic of Math Anxiety. Increasing number of people profess to hate math, to be ‘no good at math,’ to be anxious about doing basic math. These same people were taught math in our public schools. When did this situation of math anxiety start? Who knows for sure? But what’s significant is that it’s increasing, not decreasing. It’s increasing despite the modern education system, despite New Math and the latest teaching methods, despite all the money and energy that has been put towards the problem. Just for the record, I found a book “Mathematics; A Human Endeavor” by Harold R. Jacobs copyrighted in 1970 which in its preface the author mentions the failure of New Math in the schools. A book from 1964, titled “Mathematics for Elementary Teachers” by Ralph Crouch and George Baldwin which was written to teach math to elementary teacher who found themselves expected to teach math although they had no training in math.

Marilyn Burns, a well known math expert, has been addresses math anxiety since 1970 with her first book, “I Hate Mathematics” right through to her more current book, “Math; Facing an American Phobia” 1998. The latter book speaks to math anxiety as a growing phenomenon. And more recently “Math for the Anxious” by Rosanne Proga, copyrighted 2005 also is very clear about math anxiety and its causes. Of course, all this math anxiety is good; at least it is for the math textbook industry. Math anxiety sells math textbooks. Parents are concerned that their children learn math better than they did. Teachers are calling for a better way to teach math. This is great news for the math textbook companies. For you and me, this is bad news.

So let’s look at the other side. Is it possible for people to learn math in everyday life; running their business or household, doing projects, etc.? Is this possible? I believe it is and it is already happening without anyone being aware of it. My daughter professed to hate math, yet she is doing math everyday on Neopets. When I asked her about it, she said that it wasn’t real math. So what kind of math was it? I think she meant that it wasn’t ‘school math.’ I met an airline pilot who went into great details about the calculations she did in her head in order to fly the plane. Later she professed that she hated math in school. She wasn’t ‘good at it.’ She wasn’t even capable of balancing her own checkbook. When I pointed out that the calculation she did to fly the plane was math, she was adamant that it wasn’t because she wasn’t any good at math in school. She said “It’s just a formula that I plug numbers into.” Marilyn Burn relates a similar story about an interior decorator who could price out the cost for a complete room, but also felt that she wasn’t any good at math. These are people who couldn’t do ‘school math’ but are doing the math that their everyday lives demand of them. They probably learned this math on the job; hence they don’t relate it to school math.

Math is best learned in the real world, with real life situations. It may start with counting out the cookies your mother gives you. Later you start comparing the number you got with the number your brother got. You quickly learn to calculate the he got ‘how many’ more than you did, so that your complaint can be accurate. Next, you are watching Mom slice up the pie or cake. You quickly calculate how many pieces each person can have, that is until Mom steps in and tells you how many you can really have. Then you calculate how many you can have tomorrow with all those guests gone. This is a simple real life scenario, but how many math concepts did I cover here. These skills grow with your children. How many of you have watched your older children go through their Halloween candy. My child sorts and counts to evaluate how she did. Halloween is also a great time for teaching about taxes. Parents need to take their share of the sweet earnings, and not just of the candy the child doesn’t like. Remember, Uncle Sam takes his cut off the top before you ever see a dime.

Playing is a great way to learn math. I like miniature golf and billiards for learning about angles and force. Of course this may sound like Physics, Newton’s Law of Relativity. And it is, but there is also no better way to learn geometry and algebra than with a practical application. What could be more practical than learning as you play? Wow, here’s another real life example for learning math. I like playing games. You name it; board games, card games, strategy games. If it challenges me and tests my intellect and problem solving capabilities, I like it. Games like Nim, checkers, chess, mancala, Stratego, Battleship, Risk, etc. help develop logic sequences and strategy. Games like Uno, Skip-bo, Set, Rummikub helps children develop their ability to see patterns. Games like cribbage, gin rummy, Scrabble actually help children practice addition and multiplication.

But enough with the games, let’s talk some serious stuff. If you want to learn math, do a project like decorating a room. Do the whole works from calculating the paint or wallpaper, to calculating the material and sewing the drapes, to ordering and positioning the furniture. Design a new cabinet layout for your kitchen, including calculating cabinet dimensions, appliance positioning and project costs. Try building something like a drop desk or a play ground swing set, or a go-cart. How about doing a baking or sewing/quilting project? Do all the preparations for a dinner party, including the planning, shopping, seating arrangement, cooking, etc. Try paper trading some stock and track them for a year. Start an eBay business. Wow! Wouldn’t that be something, having your child’s math project turn into a home-based business that pays for your child’s college education? It’s possible and it’s real life.

When it comes to learning math, everyday life has plenty of opportunities and the learning is natural, not forced. On the other hand, the math anxiety problem is rooted in our modern education system. The problem lies with having non-math experts teaching math as if they were experts. The problem lies with having math textbooks that present math in an artificial and rigid manner. As much as I liked Marilyn Burns book, “Math; Facing an American Phobia,” I think she missed the correct conclusion of the situation. Ms. Burns is still trying to ‘fix’ the system. It is obvious to me that it is time to throw the system out and go back to learning math in everyday life. Hence I stand by my statement “The Last Thing the World Needs Is Another Math Textbook.”

Source by Ann LaRoche

16 Jul

The One Thing You’re Doing That Could Hold Your Child Back in Math

Posted in Education by anshbookstore on July 16, 2021 @ 7:11 pm

Have you ever had math anxiety? If so, you’re not alone. Many people claim to suffer from math anxiety – and expressing it can actually affect their kids.

Parents’ beliefs are contagious

Studies have shown that parents who express anxiety while helping their children with math reduce their children’s performance in first and second grades. When mothers informed their daughters that they were not good at math, the daughters’ work in the subject declined.

It’s not just the parents

Female teachers’ math anxiety has been shown to negatively affects girls’ math achievement. In one study, the more anxious the female elementary school teachers were, the more likely the girls in their classes became infected with the stereotype that girls were not good at math – and the girls’ math performance was impacted in a measurable way. The boys in their classes were unaffected.

Why is math anxiety a problem?

Math anxiety affects math performance. Math anxiety can have a disruptive effect on working memory, which is needed to attack math problems. When a child is preoccupied with fearful and apprehensive thoughts, their brain is not fully focused on the challenging task at hand, putting them at a distinct disadvantage that affects their learning. This is particularly common when children are given timed tests.

Higher level math will be a lot more important to the next generation. American students, at a minimum, generally have to take 10 years of math classes to achieve a high school diploma – the least amount of education needed to get even an unskilled job in today’s job market. Lack of confidence in math leads students to avoid certain careers because completion of high level math is needed for entry. This doesn’t only apply to the obvious scientific occupations, many college business programs actually require two semesters of calculus.

As time goes on, STEM careers will become a much larger part of the economy. The working world will be transformed in radical ways in short periods of time. For example, driverless cars could make taxi drivers and truck drivers obsolete within ten years. Uber and similar companies are already making full time taxi driving a thing of the past. Today’s kids will need a solid foundation in the STEM subjects to prepare them for a job market we can’t even imagine today.

So how can parents help their children learn math more easily?

If you struggled with math or have had anxiety, refrain from expressing it to your child. Talk positively about how math (even simple computations) help you in your daily life today. Praise all efforts and perseverance with their homework, even when they don’t arrive at the right answer at times. If you’re a mother who has a daughter, let her know you are confident in her ability to achieve in math.

Parents can foster positive attitudes about math by stressing that math is a just a subject learned by practice and persistence. There is no such thing as a “math person” and anyone can learn math. Making mistakes is just a healthy part of that process – not proof of any lack of ability or intelligence. In fact, making mistakes in math has been shown on MRI scans to make a person’s brain grow. There is no race or gender that has any special advantage when doing math, those stereotypes are totally wrong.

Parents can help their kids learn math by encouraging them to play math enrichment games and do puzzles to develop number sense. Visuals like board games are especially helpful for developing a child’s understanding of math concepts. Spatial skills – the comprehension and recall of the spatial relations between objects – are closely related to math skills. Studies have shown that kids benefitted immediately after playing a number line game similar to Snakes and Ladders and a visual model of the positive and negative number line helped kids intuitively understand how negative numbers work. The more kids play games and have fun with numbers, the less math anxiety and the more confidence they will have exploring math.

Source by Suzanne Player