I just wasn’t fast enough. I couldn’t plow through 100 math facts in the allotted time with perfection. For a while my punishment was to miss recess and do it again, chained to my desk with my arch enemy. Thus began my fearful relationship with math that endured until I learned to teach math at UCF when, unexpectedly, MATH BECAME FUN. (Gasp!) Sympathizing with children who felt similarly about math, I resolved to help them master the basics and be better prepared to enjoy math.
We are in This Together
The amygdala is a small almond shaped part of the brain that is the fight, flight and freeze response of the brain. If it senses danger it springs into action. Blood is drawn away from higher cognitive functions and sent as fuel to the legs and heart so we can escape the dreaded attack. Our brains are literally handicapped by our fear as our primitive brain takes over and executive function takes a back seat. Therefore, alleviating the fear and angst is the first part of getting acquainted with math on friendlier terms. The mediator/teacher can calm the amygdala by saying, “Hard is good.”, “You are going to get this.”, “I will help you.” and “We will do this together.” Translation: Math is not the destroyer and together we are going to get this.
Kinesthetic to Pictorial to Abstract
Math is abstract: symbols that represent something real. Therefore to connect the relationship between numbers and real life we need to systematically move children from kinesthetic to pictorial to abstract. Pull out the dried beans, m&m’s, toy cars and use them to show the relationship. Handle how 5 groups of 4 is 20. Then move to pictures of 5 fish bowls with 4 fish each, until they see 5×4=20 and 20/5=4 in their minds.
Memorization Secrets
The Cone of Learning says after 2 weeks we remember only 20% of what we hear, 50% of what we see and hear, 70% of what we say and 90% of what we say, hear and do. Children need a mediator to guide them to engage fully (see, hear, discuss, move) with activities that foster fun learning such as play money, toothpicks, dice, or placing facts on stairsteps or in hopscotch squares and saying them aloud when landing on them. Don’t limit these activities to just math. Memorizing Dolch Sight Words by writing them on Jenga blocks and have a rowdy game while reading them, is a great way to synthesize learned information. Ultimately, the secret is to use every sense to connect. Try these for independent self-checking math facts: Wrap Ups.
Food is a Math Motivator
Motivate children to work for and discover the answers with food. “If my apple slicer cuts apples into 8 slices and there are 10 students, how many apples do I need to cut to give you all one slice? How many apples are needed if you all want 2, 3, or 4 slices?” This was the math question the children reasoned and discussed. They needed to give evidence for their answer and it was okay to disagree with a classmate. But eventually we drew and discussed it as I sliced apples. They saw it happen and then they ate the juicy evidence. This practical word problem helped the children understand the relationship between numbers. Just add practical math problems to normal everyday situations… We have 2 gallons of milk and if I make custards that need 4 cups of milk each, how many custards can I make? If you cook custards together I bet they will be motivated to figure that one out. If word problems are baffling, your child may not be visualizing math relationships effectively, so bring the real world into math in engaging ways.
Despite my childhood fear, now math is one of my favorite subjects to teach. Getting to see light bulbs turn on and children grasp math and enjoy the challenge is so rewarding. Math can be non-threatening and even become fun when we keep the amygdala happy, transition from hands-on learning to abstract concepts systematically, engage all the senses, and use food to make math delicious.
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The mission of More to Grow Cognitive Development Training is to improve learning ability and function through cognitive exercises that meaningfully transfer to all educational and everyday life situations so individuals maximize their potential.
Darlene Lewis, darlene@moretogrow.com, https://moretogrow.com