All posts tagged 'math'

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 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.

What is mathematics?

22. August 2013 Katie Alice (0)

"Mathematics is a way of thinking. It's a way of solving problems."

An excellent video by Prof. Dor Abrahamson, Professor of Mathematics, University of California, Bereley.

Souce : Edutopia