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7 Ways You Can Make Maths Sound Fun and Interesting To Students

19. October 2014 Anissa Lee (10)

If we told you that Math is everyone’s favorite subject, we are basically trying to mess with you for fun. Let’s be reasonable about this for once – Math is one of the most daunting, haunting and mind-grinding subjects that students wish never existed. To the simple-minded it feels pretty much like a maze in your mind, lost in one of a thousand ways to solve a question in order to obtain that one definite answer. Believe it or not, those negative feelings can transform into positive ones as soon as students consider the following steps with interest and joy:

1. Make A Game Out Of It

This method graciously settles in with elementary and high-school level students who are mostly attuned to a more laidback and hyperactive background. Teachers can divide the entire classroom into different groups, i.e., in columns and rows. These rows and columns could be grouped as separate house colors like blue house, red house and green house. Whichever house scores the highest wins.

Online math games are taking off like a rocket these days and enamoring students like it very much.

2. Reward Them

Teachers must reward their students with something so that they are more tempted and persuaded into revising their material. The reward could be a field trip, some confectionary treats, gift packages, or even extra marks. Teachers are sure to see the best results in these activities later on.

3. Elementary Workbooks

There are plenty of intriguing workbooks out there that can help students become more involved in performing and solving mathematical equations and problems. The ones mostly with colorful pictures and cartoon drawings are what excite children the most. These books are the ones that are mostly well-known and used especially in elementary education.

4. Short Practice Questions

Students respond better through competitive activities. One of the best ways to reel them in is for teachers to prepare some simple basic arithmetic sums, problems and equations for them to accomplish with certain conditions. For example, the teachers should reward their students with something if they are able to complete 10 questions in 10 minutes. Doing so will not only get them interested, but also build their mathematical skills and abilities. Maths9.com is one of such sites.

5. Manipulatives

This method involves the use of a manipulative which is basically an object that is designed to induce a child’s brain by having them manipulate it in a way that evokes mathematical solving skills within them. Manipulatives have grown quite profoundly in their use in the latter half of the 20th century. Some of the most recurring manipulatives that are used by teachers today are:

• Tangrams

• Cuisenaire rods

• Numicon patterns

• Cubes

6. Common Examples

In order to better incite the interest of mathematics in the minds of the students, teachers tend to use common examples of our everyday lives. It is a fun and indeed one of the best ways to get children to like Einstein’s favorite subject. For example, if a boy named Elmer has five types of candy in his pocket and gave two to his best friend Joe, how much will he be left with?

Open-ended questions are a lot more fun to answer because they are usually the ones that students can relate to the most. This will provoke students into constructing their own set of examples while developing their Math skills.

7. Support And Encourage Students

If at any point students feel stumped or grieved, then it falls upon the teachers’ shoulders to help motivate their students into making them feel that Math can be a fun subject. Share some laughs with them, play with them and introduce a number of alternative approaches to their math solving dilemma.

No matter how many times they fail in getting the answers right, if a student lacks tutorial support from their teachers when they really needed it, they will remain stagnant in their academics and become a laughing stock. Students make mistakes as does everyone else, and it is the teachers’ job to swoon in and help them through their hurdles.

This helps stimulate a teacher and student relationship aside from improving their math.

Author

Anissa Lee, passion is to write. Professionally, she’s an academic consultant and a custom dissertation writer who writes for students project dissertation. When not working, she spends her time doing photo shoots.

Why you shouldn’t hate maths

6. October 2014 Gunjan General, Mathematics, Schools, Classroom (1)

Why do some people absolutely hate maths? Is it really because it is a difficult and boring subject? Or is the perceived difficulty just an illusion? Let’s list a few points about why you should not hate it as much as you do:

Maths is about problem solving

When you see a problem, what is your first instinct? To run away from it or to try to solve it?

If the latter option is your preference, then you should not hate maths because it is a subject that develops a logical thinking process. A maths problem requires you to think logically and hones your problem solving skills.

Solving a problem is a vital skill – from a teacher arranging students in groups for a class activity to astronomers deciding the best parameters for an optimal trajectory of a satellite to be launched, every person will always encounter a problem and will have to solve it by logical thinking and some calculations.

Maths is about patience

Maths requires patience. Yes, it is very possible that you will make mistakes and not reach the correct result in the first few tries, but is it really worth leaving the subject to your hateful negligence just because you didn’t get it right the first time? Good things take time, so stay right there and don’t give up! It could just be that you were overlooking a simple yet important fact that was messing up your result.

Maths is about understanding

Maths is not about memorising facts, it is about understanding them. Every concept requires you to understand it and feel it, not memories each step in the proof of a theory. Every step has a meaning and can be replaced by another step if it provides the same result. You need to think and understand and understanding things is not a bad trait.

You can practice your concepts here to improve your understanding and build confidence.

Maths is not only about calculations

If you’re one of those who believe that maths is tedious and only about boring numbers then you are wrong. Maths is about a lot of things – patterns, shapes, games, functions, relations, routes and a lot more! Maths is not only about calculating numbers, it is also about finding logical solutions to most common as well as not so common problems in numerous ways.

Maths is used almost everywhere

Maths is used in almost every domain of life. From your daily activities like shopping from the nearby grocery store to various career paths, from business to fashion designing, maths is unavoidable.

Fashion designing looks fun, colourful and creative and it requires the designer to design according to the measurements of a model, adjust the parts of the design to match others not only in colour but in shape, length and size as well. Maths, we found you here too!

Maths is fun!

And last but not the least, maths is fun! Once you start to understand it and see how interesting it is, it is actually quite enjoyable. Maths based games are fun and so is understanding a new, cool concept.

If maths look tedious and uninteresting to you, you only need to give it a chance. Be patient, be understanding, be thoughtful: these traits are not just useful for maths.

Author: Gunjan Vyas

Gunjan is a college student who likes to write as a hobby. She has contributed to internationally acclaimed anthologies and also published a well-received collection of short stories.

Conquering the Fear of Maths

25. February 2014 Shatru Mathematics (0)

School kids may be divided into two broad categories: those who love maths and those who hate the maths subject.

Students who love maths need little or no guidance. Clear explanation and a few maths practice sums are enough to help them get better at the subject. However, things are not so easy with the other students. Student who dislike maths do so because they don’t understand it. This makes them fear the subject and that fear ultimately leads to dislike. As the parent it is important that you help your kid get over that fear so that child changes perspective and starts taking interest in maths.

Listed below are a few simple tips that you could adopt at home:

Remove the Negativity

Often times the parent’s perception of the subject reflects on the child. If you don’t like the subject and have showcased it quite a few times, your child will automatically dislike it as well. This is why it is highly advisable that you create a positive environment at home, which welcomes maths and problem solving. Talk about the advantages of learning maths and how maths will be useful in the future. Be enthusiastic about the subject so that it encourages your child to make an effort and voluntarily engage in maths practice.

Use Real Life Examples

Kids learn better with real life examples because they instantly connect with them. You should take advantage of this and present such instances. For example, you may ask your little child to cross the groceries and then verify the grand total. If your child is a little older you may also ask him to calculate how to split the restaurant bill among 4 people. You could also take chocolates and purchase into consideration and ask questions such as, “If one chocolate costs Rs.10, how much will 20 chocolates cost?”

Such connecting questions will spur interest and inspire them to practice maths regularly.

Play Games That Relate To Maths

Kids usually don’t like being directly taught. This holds true especially when you are trying to teach a subject they don’t like. This is where games come in. Today, the market has many interactive and educational games that will not just provide entertainment but will also help your child learn. Kids learn best when they are interested and games cater to that.

Use Technology

We live in a world of advanced technology and thanks to the advent of Internet maths practice has become fun and feasible. You have plenty of choices to practice maths online and to improve your child’s maths skills. Kids love moving out of books and pencils, and using the mouse or track pad. A change in the environment and medium of instruction will definitely have a positive impact.

These are four very simple ways of helping your child overcome his fears of the subject. Encourage him to practice maths online and/or buy him interactive games based on his age. Gradually, you will see progress.

Author: Shatru Naik

Shatru is start-up specialist with experience in education and IT domains, currently he Founded maths9.com. Shatru is interested in education research. He can be reached at shatru (at) maths9.com. You also connect him on LinkedIn.

How to uncover your child's hidden talents.

14. February 2014 Gunjan General, Schools, Classroom (8)

Every child is special and possesses one or more special talent - something they are specifically good at, something they do better than other things. Like a seven year old boy could be really bad at dancing, but could be drawing beautiful sketches in his sketchbook and you may not even be aware. Here are some ways by which you can know about his interests:

Listen

As a parent, one should take keen interest in whatever the child has to say. Listening patiently is the key to finding what he/she is capable of. Kids talk about things that interest them and many times, they want to know how they can do it. So, next time when your child comes running to you to show something that's really interesting and you're working, keep your work aside for ten minutes and listen.

Do not judge

So he is talking about how his grandmother knit a beautiful sweater and is fascinated by the design she made and it makes you nervous that he is probably nurturing a hobby more suited to girls. Don't judge him! Appreciating the aesthetics of the design is not something that should make you skeptical about his hobbies, it should make you realise that he may have an eye for design and patterns - a useful and important trait of a graphic artist.

Do not jump to conclusions

Your daughter is shy and stays quiet in the company of others. She is hardly ever comfortable conversing with people outside her family and friend circle and you conclude she is antisocial and lacks communication skills. Wrong!

That alone shouldn't let you decide. She might be imagining strange characters in strange situations. She could be delivering beautiful speeches alone and talking wonderfully with her imaginary characters because real people scare her. It's not social skills she lacks, it's self-confidence. And that's what you should be working on.

Encourage

Encourage your kids to explore, learn, make mistakes and spend time on various activities. Don't stop them from doing anything unless it's harmful. Encourage them to learn from their mistakes rather than crying over them and feeling disappointed.

They know what makes them happy but are not sure and need your help and encouragement for this purpose.

Be a good parent and support them!

Author: Gunjan Vyas
Gunjan is a college student who likes to write as a hobby. She has contributed to internationally acclaimed anthologies and also published a well-received collection of short stories.

How to build a good math foundation among children?

10. February 2014 Priyanka Mathematics, Schools (0)

Mathematics is an important subject to be learnt in school and by learning math, it definitely helps children to learn other subjects easily which requires the math base. By learning math effectively, children will definitely tend to become smart and active. Their thinking power will also be definitely increased. To achieve all these things, a good math foundation is required. The below mentioned tips will surely help.

Help children understand the “value of numbers”

Ideally to learn the various mathematical concepts, children are required to understand the value of the numbers. Do not just let them say 1,2,3 and so on. Instead, for an example, you can keep one apple at a place and two apples in another place and help them understand the differences between them. With this, they will definitely help in understanding the value of the numbers.

Repeat “maths practice”

It is really not enough if you teach a particular mathematical concept or a problem only once. The math skills will often be confusing and hence, repeating the math practice multiple times will be of great help. The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim says it is math practice makes perfect, not the talent.

Make use of real ‘life examples’

The real life examples will help them to remember things better. Let them measure cups of water, distance from one place to another and such other things. All these examples can be of great help in developing the math skills. In everyday life, we will surely come across some kind of math. Involve children to such real life situations and this will surely help them to develop their ability to think better.

Let the “teaching be in order”

Reaching math needs to be in order always. Do not go directly to the difficult trigonometry or calculus, without the right knowledge of Algebra. The base of learning these things needs to be strong for a better understanding. When children learn the topics in order, they will be able to thoroughly understand the principles and its applications.

Solving math problems on a “daily basis”

It is necessary to solve the math problems on a daily basis. They are required to dedicate at least an hour for solving the math problems on a daily basis. Use math practice website to master in each skill through interactive questions with fun. This will confidently help them in improving their performance.

By following the above mentioned tips, children can definitely enhance the math problem solving skills in them and can excel in learning of math subject. Only with a good base, strong pillar can be formed. Hence, the above tips should never be ignored when teaching math to the children. This can in fact be considered a wonderful process, which will certainly help in building a strong math foundation among the children.

Author: Priyanka Kamath

Priyanka is a successful content writer and has written various webpages, blogs and articles and has contributed greatly to the content writing field. She has completed her Bachelors in Commerce from Mangalore University and has set up a wonderful career in content writing. Apart from being a prosperous homemaker, her passion for writing is tremendous.