Maths Can Be the Easiest Subject in School.
Learned the Wrong Way, Maths Will Eventually Become a Nightmare!
Rote Learning Maths Vs Understanding Maths
There are two basic approaches to teaching Maths:
- Getting students to repeat procedures over and over again until they are learnt like a parrot. This is the main technique used by most teachers and implied in most modern textbooks.
- Teaching students the language of Maths so they can understand the concepts and procedures and can apply them in various situations. Very few teachers use this approach and there are very few textbooks available any more that make it easy teaching this approach.
The first problem with learning things by rote is that unless they are practised regularly they will gradually be forgotten. In other words they do not stay in the long-term memory like understanding and language does – there are just too many patterns to learn and they often look similar to other patterns. Take addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of fractions and decimals for example. Despite learning how to do this for many years in Primary and High School, very few people can still do these operations by the end of their schooling. If you don’t believe me, make up a quick test of these skills and give it to anyone aged 10 or above and see how many they can do.
Another major problem with just learning Maths procedures by rote is that it is often difficult to determine which procedure to use if the problem is presented as a word problem – there is no point being able to remember how to add fractions if you can’t work out that you need to add fractions to solve a particular problem. This difficulty becomes very apparent from about Year/Grade 10 so it is not surprising that this is the time that many people drop Maths even though they may have been getting good grades in earlier years.
DANGER! Poor Maths Skills Severely Limit Your Child’s Career Choice
Poor Maths skills in Senior High School make it very difficult to learn Science subjects like Physics and Chemistry, so courses at University in Medicine, Science or Engineering are not an option for the student. Fixing the Maths skills at Senior High School level is much more difficult that fixing them in Primary or Junior High School, so proactive parents should have the learning approach of their children assessed so any weaknesses can be fixed as soon as possible.
Even if your child does not want to do Medicine, Science and Engineering courses, most other University and College courses contain a significant component of Maths! And the Maths part of the course is usually compulsory so failure in the Maths means failure in getting the qualification. Take Nursing for example, well over half the people who enroll in Nursing fail because they can’t pass their drug calculation test. The same thing happens in Psychology where students must learn very sophisticated Statistics and Research Methods. In fact, most University courses require students to understand and use complex Statistical skills.
‘I Was No Good at Maths Either’
It is common for parents to have low expectations for their child in Maths if they did not do well in Maths themselves. Such attitudes often become a self-fulfilling prophecy because they affect the child’s attitude to Maths and destroys his/her confidence.
Poor Mathematical ability is NOT hereditary – you cannot pass it on to your child by your genes!
Maths is the Easiest Subject to Learn – Provided Your Child Learns it the Right Way
There is a surprisingly small amount of content to learn in Mathematics so if it is learned using language and understanding so the child gets good long-term memory, Maths usually becomes the easiest and most enjoyable subject for the child.
When your child is able to learn and remember Maths skills the first time, he/she will not have to keep learning them over and over again, like most of the other students.
Maths Can Be Fun
One of the most enjoyable ways to practise and maintain Maths skills is to play Maths Games. We have games that teach and revise many of the concepts needed in Primary and High School.
We also provide our students with many practical activities which provide them with a much more concrete understanding of Maths concepts, and so make the concepts easier to understand and remember.
To find out more about Our Mathematics Programs click here: Details of High Performance Learning Mathematics Programs..
Chris Brooks
Principal
High Performance Learning
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