Why some children ‘unexpectedly’ lose interest in learning maths and how this can be avoided. Part 3.
👨👩👧👦🏫 Common reason No 3️⃣
Helping your child to cross
💜THE GREAT MATHS BARRIER🧠+💜
Reason 3: fear.
Some types of maths explanations create the fear of maths learning.
1️⃣ Explanations are mathematically imperfect.
One slight imperfection in maths explanations distorts maths concepts and this misleads kids. They grow to think incorrectly and it becomes hard to understand the current and, most importantly, all subsequent maths topics.
The fear of maths starts creeping in.
2️⃣ Maths concepts are explanined “to the point”.
We adults prefer explanations to be to the point.
So, we tend to teach maths to kids like this:
“The point is … .
And this … is how to do it.”
But kids think slowly.
Moreover, comprehending every concept in maths is the process of fixing several brain-twisters.
Better do this fixing one brain-twister at a time.
Or kids develop fear.
3️⃣ Maths is not delivered in child-appropriate language.
Once, I overheard a teacher in a class of 6 years olds’, speaking with a tone of voice that was radiating her confidence in maths:
“We are moving on to looking at adding and subtracting multiples of 10”.
Yes.
Mathematically perfect.
But…
She spoke to 6 years olds, using a sentence that contained 3 concepts:
Adding.
Subtracting.
Multiples.
And while the concept of adding is comfortable to 6 years olds (there are practically no brain-twisters involved), subtracting is tough – too many brain-twisters!
Same goes for multiples.
This is why some children even at the age of 15+ are scared of them!
It’s better not to overwhelm kids with terminology.
For the example above, it’s better to split the sentences into 3 parts.
In fact, better to split the whole lesson into 3 parts!
And yes. A warm, friendly tone of voice always goes long way.
To sum up 3 my articles in this series.
Morrish Maths preaches:
🟣 Distortions of maths concepts are unacceptable.
🟣 Explaining maths concepts is not enough.
Kids have to be helped to fix maths brain-twisters.
🟣 The teacher must take care not to create fear or anxiety for students.
Maths should be explained in language kids can relate to and in a manner that is comfortable for them.
🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪
And this is all there is to Morrish Maths, really!
This is Dr. M’s “secret”.
Now revealed 😀
Well… there is one more secret though.
🟣 All the above maths teaching principles give results only if applied correctly.
Only then kids grow to love learning maths!
My maths teaching skill has taken me a lifetime to be mastered.
(See my maths life story below).
🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪
❓What maths teachers’ sentences sounded scary to you?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
—
📢 Worried about your child’s maths learning? Follow me on social media #MorrishMaths to learn more or simply message me the word “NOW” directly, and I shall send you the link to arrange a free session with me to discuss how you can help them.
P.S.
My maths life story
It took me a lifetime to master my maths teaching skills.
I happened to notice brain-twisters when I experienced them myself learning maths at my nursery school. And I remembered many of them and how I helped myself to fix them – myself, or with my parents’ help.
I also remember most brain-twisters at school and university levels and how I was fixing them for myself.
I’ve been helping people of all ages with maths ever since I was about 15.
For over 30 years I was sharing my maths knowledge and skills with friends, students and colleagues during my career as an Engineering research scientist.
For the last 11 years I have been helping students with maths privately full time. This is when I clearly saw that all children experience exactly the same brain-twisters as I did when I was a child.
I help my students using the ideas that helped me to successfully learn maths.
Today, these ideas are honed, verified in practice, and are collated into my Morrish Maths tuition system.
📢 Worried about your child’s maths learning?
Follow me on social media #MorrishMaths to learn more or simply message me the word “NOW” directly, and I shall send you the link to arrange a free session with me to discuss how you can help them.
