Supporting your child in mathematics learning

The lockdowns and home learning are rapidly becoming memories. Although the experience of learning from home may have mixed feelings in your household, it certainly highlighted the challenges, but also opportunities there might be in learning mathematics outside of school. 

This article is a reminder of the quick, fun and opportune ways you can support maths learning for you children at home. These are ‘informal’ strategies, meaning they are not designed to teach concepts in maths, but to reinforce what is happening in the classroom and build positive experiences when engaging in mathematics at home. 

The excerpts featured in this article are from a website by Dr Catherine Attard, who is a Professor of Mathematics Education and Deputy Director of the Centre for Educational Research within the School of Education at Western Sydney University. https://engagingmaths.com/ 

“As a parent, be conscious of displaying positive attitudes towards mathematics, even when it’s challenging. Adopting a ‘growth mindset’ allows children (and parents) to acknowledge that mathematics is challenging, but not impossible. Rather than saying “I can’t do it” or “it’s too hard”, encourage statements such as “I can’t do it yet” or “let’s work on this together”. If you’re struggling with the mathematics yourself, and finding it difficult to support your child, there are options such as free online courses like Jo Boaler’s YouCubed website (www.youcubed.org), apps such as Khan Academy, or you can seek help from a professional. The following tips may assist:

• When in doubt, ask. Some of the strategies taught in contemporary classrooms are very different to those you might have learned at school. It’s important to support the strategies that your child is learning rather than confuse them with yours, so make sure you seek assistance from your child’s teacher.
• It’s not just about content. The mathematics curriculum covers content and processes. All students need to know how to do the mathematics and how to apply the mathematics, and it’s important to encourage your child to explore, investigate and problem solve whenever possible. Ask them questions like ‘How do you know?’, ‘Can you solve this a different way?’, or ‘Can you explain how you worked it out?’.
• Bring maths into daily conversations and activities with your child. After all, there’s maths in everything we do. For example, if you’re cooking you might ask your child to help you measure out ingredients. If you’re shopping, you could have a little competition to see who can make the best estimation of the total grocery bill or perhaps ask your child to work out the amount of change (this may be challenging given that we use credit cards most of the time).

Tips for keeping kids interested in maths

Games

Traditional games can provide opportunities to talk about maths and help your child. Games that use dominoes and playing cards are great for young children as are board games such as Snakes and Ladders, Monopoly or Mabble. Even non-numerical games such as Guess Who? have benefits for mathematics because they promote problem solving and strategic thinking which are important mathematical skills.

Maths-based Children’s Literature

There are many great picture books that promote mathematical ideas. Use these books to start conversations about mathematics with your child or to spark curiosity and perhaps some mathematical investigation. Here are some websites that list children’s literature suitable for use in mathematics teaching and learning:

http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/teachers/k/literature-list/

http://literacy.kent.edu/Oasis/Resc/Educ/mathkidslit.html

http://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/math-for-kids.html

Problem-Solving Activities

If you’re looking for some interesting mathematical problems for your child to explore, the NRich site (http://nrich.maths.org/teacher-primary) has an excellent range of problems and investigations for students of all ages. Best of all, the site provides information for teachers (or parents) to support students.

Taking the Maths Outside

There are lots of activities that allow you and your child to get outside and do some maths. The following are some easy suggestions:

• Play a game of hopscotch, or any game that requires counting/scoring.
• Take an iPad or camera outside and go on a treasure hunt for numbers/shapes/objects/angles. Use the photos in combination with a screen casting app to annotate/label/explain what was found in the treasure hunt.
• Design a maths trail where your child poses and then solves mathematical questions/problems in your backyard, at the local playground or in your neighbourhood.

Jane Buhagiar