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10 ways to improve your kid’s math learning

28 Aug, 2012
10 ways to improve your kid’s math learning

10 ways to improve your kid’s math learning

For some children, the word 'math' can be very scary.

If your child finds math a bit daunting, have a read of the following tips that can help make math fun and relevant to everyday experiences and activities for your child.


Math learning tip #1. Shopping by numbers

Math learning tip #1. Shopping by numbers

The next time you go out shopping with your child, talk about the different quantities of any items you buy. For example, show your child how many eggs there are in a dozen or compare bottle or container sizes.


Math learning tip #2. Dollars and sense

Math learning tip #2. Dollars and sense

Give your child a small amount of money (such as $10) and ask him to work out how much or how many of a certain item can be bought with that amount. You will also teach your kid how to spend on a budget.


Math learning tip #3. Shapes that go together

Math learning tip #3. Shapes that go together

Point out the various shapes of different objects around the home. In asking your child to name the shapes you are also improving their memory, which is important for learning mathematical formulae.


Math learning tip #4. License to add and subtract

Math learning tip #4. License to add and subtract

The next time you are in the car or on public transport, point out nearby car license plate numbers to your child. Ask him or her to add or subtract the digits. This quick drill strengthens mental calculation skills.


Math learning tip #5. Get interactive

Math learning tip #5. Get interactive

Encourage children to take part in activities that use their maths skills like cooking or measuring materials for craft activities such as woodwork.


Math learning tip #6. Help de-mystify jargon

Math learning tip #6. Help de-mystify jargon

Maths is all about numbers but sometimes the words get in the way of learning. Take the time to explain concepts such as oblique angles, Venn diagram and negative integers. If necessary, your child should ask a teacher or a tutor for help.


Math learning tip #7. Remove ‘work’ from homework

Math learning tip #7. Remove ‘work’ from homework

Stay calm when helping your child with maths homework. Play some classical music in the background if it helps your child and take a break when it gets frustrating for both of you.


Math learning tip #8. Get musical

Math learning tip #8. Get musical

Letting your child play a musical instrument improves memory and cognitive skills, which will in turn help his or her maths.


Math learning tip #9. Use the calculator

Math learning tip #9. Use the calculator

The calculator helps a child see arithmetic in action. It will help your child understand and apply the basic skills of addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication.


Math learning tip #10. Remember to have fun

Math learning tip #10. Remember to have fun

Maths is not just about getting the right answers. Show your child that the journey can be as rewarding as the results by having as much fun as possible along the way.

The following tips for math tutors and teachers are from Mr Benjamin Yang -- Director of Business Development for Epigami, a tuition agency dedicated to improving the quality of tutoring outside of the formal education system.

According to Mr Yang, usually it's advisable that parents should not be directly involved in teaching their kids more complex math when they are older (teaching a very young kid skills like counting on the other hand is perfectly fine).

Why? Because the parents are likely to have been out of the school system for a very long time and may not know the exact emphasis or mode of teaching, which may serve to further confuse the kids.

Mr Yang says teachers and tutors are encouraged to help improve their students' math learning in the following ways (tip no. 6 is something that parents could do):

- Explain the logical reasoning behind the methods.

- Test the child with a similar question but twisted in another way to check if they thoroughly understand.

-  Show student step-by-step ways to use math formulas (they have to start from the basics and get it right from the start before jumping in deep).

- Revise key concepts using questions in increasing difficulty. This allows the kid to feel confident from the start rather than dejected and demoralized from the beginning.

- Use 'gamification' of math concepts. For example, simulate a game where the 'evil' boss is a mathematics question and one that has to be squashed and conquered.

- Story telling and simulation. Use tools such as cutlery, matches etc that allows the kids to see for themselves the consequences of mathematical questions.

- Simplify. Instead of explaining in a whole string of sentences why not employ drawing such as that of the Sakamoto method. This allows the kids to take charge of the questions, use their creativity and have fun at the same time.

- Group learning. Competition and peer pressure actually positively affects kids' will to perform better (especially in boys). However, this is not comparing grades after the whole exam/test is applied.

- Allow the kids to teach it back to the tutor. If they can teach, they know the material. If they can't, they also realize immediately their deficiency.

- 10 yr series. Yes the dreaded practice sets. Clocking a number of these will allow the students to see different permutations of the same concepts. But this does not mean forcing the kid to memorize every single question there is.


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Felicia Chin

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