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Maths Maths function is to provide skills in life and also to stimulate the analytical part of the mind, but the study of Maths can subtract from your child's enjoyment of school. So much importance is placed upon Maths at school and I really want to quell some hype about this. In my view as a parent, Maths is most important in managing everyday things like balancing cheque books! Exercises to help your child with this include, how much allowance will you need to save so you can buy the latest Gameboy or whatever is flavour of the month. Counting out the knives and forks when setting out the table, how many people are there, how many forks, how many knives, what's the total - these are all important applications to what your child is learning, brought into everyday life. Again, people either get Maths or they don't. Those that do will go on to apply the more complex issues of Algebra to perform great feats such as this web page. Others, like me, will learn the basics of compound interest and use it to their advantage. Don't sweat Maths. OK so you're still sweating about Maths. Here is a great web site I found which delivers live help, a host of problems in archives and are all around Maths heads. You will find them at www.freemathhelp.com On the Bookshelf: Spend some time with your child's Maths text book and understand the core principles that are being learned and apply them to everyday life. Hope you find the link helpful.
If you or your child want to learn math in a fun and meaningful way, please look at There are also some great games at
Cool Maths Games
Here's a link for some maths and physics videos, designed for the higher or even tertiary level.
Following are some helpful articles about maths and helping your child learning arithmetic as well. Follow the suggested links within them for more information. Mathematics - Why Is It So Scary? Author: Kenneth Williams The mere mention of the word has some people running for the hills. But why? Why does such a fundamental, important and widely taught subject trigger so much mental pain? Answer: It all comes down to psychological conditioning. Your math comfort level depends on your experiences with math up till now. These experiences - positive or negative - have shaped your belief system. As a test, look at these four common misconceptions and see how you relate to them: Belief #1: "Math can only be solved by one method." Historically, many math teachers and tutors learned one method of solving a math problem. They then taught just one method to their students. This places both students and teachers at a disadvantage. Mathematics is not as rigid as it appears. Mathematics students should strive to find more than one way to solve a problem. This not only encourages understanding, but advancement in the field of mathematics. Belief #2: "Math should be taught in one style of learning." Solid educational research has shown that we process information in different ways, and that each of us responds better to a particular learning style. Visual learners are one example. These people prefer to see visual representations of mathematics. They prefer creating a mental picture to help them solve a problem. Therefore, working strictly with numbers and words doesn't provide a productive learning experience for visual learners. Another type of learner is the kinesthetic learner, who prefers a "hands on" experience. This type will understand a math problem much better when they can physically count the number of objects. Belief #3: "Math is difficult." This belief stems from previous negative experiences with mathematics. Did you have a teacher that was very strict in the past and didn't provide the proper educational environment for learning mathematics? Were you ever made to feel embarrassed in the math class? Can you remember a time when you stumbled on a particular topic and felt left behind with the lessons? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions then take comfort from the fact that you are not alone. People of all generations can cite bad experiences with math. Belief #4: "There's no point learning mathematics when you can use a calculator/computer instead." Technology is a learning aid that is beneficial, but must not be abused. You need to understand how to compute basic level math problems, as you will need these skills every day of your life. What if your calculator breaks? What if you are stuck in a situation where you need to calculate a number and don't have technology to help you out? You need to rely on your own capabilities. It is critical to understand that math obstacles can be overcome. You can achieve math success if you understand that you may process mathematics information differently than your math teacher, neighbor, or friends. You can vastly improve your chance of mathematics success if you change your attitude to the subject. Drop the negative mindset and be open to new ways of looking at mathematical problems. It is amazing how a positive attitude can break through false beliefs and tame the mathematics monster forever. About the author:
Kenneth Williams is a math teacher with over 31 years
experience. He is also author of 'Fun With Figures' which shows
anyone of any ability the easy way to do mental math. Visit the
site today and find out what you didn't learn in the math class.
Visit: http://FunWithFigures.com
For success in school mathematics it is necessary to master elementary mental computational skills at first. This statement is obvious not only for teachers. Everybody knows that addition and subtraction within the limits of 20, multiplication and division within the limits of 100 are the foundation of all next arithmetical and algebraic topics. But my practice shows that a level of the skills, which maybe is suitable for primary school, very often is insufficient for secondary school. During the last twenty years I investigated why some pupils can not study mathematics successfully. Now I am sure - the first of the causes is poor mental arithmetic. If elementary mental computational skills are not good enough, a pupil has no chance to understand and master more complicated topics. How can we diagnose a lack of the skills? The answer seems very simple. Mental computations must be swift and errorless. We may say that the skills must be driven to automatism (the top quality of skills) which means quick and errorless mental implementation of the simple arithmetical operations. Thus the computational speed is the first criterion of the automatism. Meanwhile an error may be caused not only by lack of skills. There are many other outside causes - a bad condition of a pupil, a brief distraction of attention and so on. Therefore a probability of occurrence of an error, which must be sufficiently low but not equal to zero, must be taken as the second criterion. The results of my study allow determining permissible limits of the average time of implementation of one operation and relative frequency of occurrence of errors while a pupil implements a sequence of simple uniform operations. All pupils who had not reached the limits could not learn mathematics without big problems. They could not work at lessons of full value and do homework themselves. Their knowledge and skills were very bad. In contrary, in those cases when it was possible to improve their elementary mental computational skills, they began to make progress. If you want to know more about the implemented study, you can go to http://www.simplar.boom.ru You can find there a description of the study with some figures and diagrams, a test for diagnosis of elementary mental computational skills and a description of two effective ways for improvement of the skills: 1) The testing tables which are an effective means for training work. Their using lets to bring up quickly the elementary mental computational skills to the level exceeding the calculated permissible limits of the considered parameters. 2) The teaching computer program for improvement of elementary mental computational skills. It makes a diagnosis of a level of the skills; carries out the work on improvement of the skills; carries out control by a psycho-physical state of a pupil and by a level of permissible working load; allows controlling the results of working. For confirming the influence of quality of elementary mental computational skills over success in school mathematics bad achieving pupils (from one to three years after the multiplication table was completely studied) were chosen. The work upon development of the skills, which level had been very bad, was carried out with each of them individually. In 85% of cases the level was brought to stable correspondence to the calculated values of parameters. The results exceed the limit values of the parameters significantly. After that a work upon main basic topics of school math (common fractions, algebraic equations and so on) was carried out with the pupils. The work was successful, and all of them had not big problems in their subsequent math's learning. It must be noted that the level of elementary mental computational skills of actively working pupils only do not decreases in due course. If a pupil works passively at lessons and does not carry out home works himself/herself, the level decreases gradually. In some time it leads to difficulties in math's learning. Thus a level of elementary mental computational skills is a good means of determination of pupil's preparedness for successful studies. The limit values of the considered parameters define the first threshold of school math's learning ability. The pupils who have not crossed this threshold are doomed to poor progress. It means that results of testing of the skills may be used for prediction of failure in school mathematics. MAIN INFERENCES 1) Unsatisfactory development of the elementary mental computational skills adverse affects progress in school mathematics. The skills must be driven to automatism. That is the obligatory condition for success in school mathematics. 2) A level of the skills may be determined by two parameters: average time of implementation of one operation and relative frequency of occurrence of errors. 3) For testing it is handy to use the standard tables, for which the permissible limits of time and errors were calculated (http://www.simplar.boom.ru) About the author:
Victor Guskov, a teacher of mathematics, PhD. Pedagogical
Sciences
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