Maths Therapy.

It’s time to stop the clock on maths anxiety.

Research shows that Maths anxiety is recorded in students as young as 5 years old (Ramirez, et al, 2013).

Timed tests are turning children away from Maths as they are led to believe that only speed and accuracy are important to be successful in Mathematics.

This is extremely unfortunate and we need alternative pathways for students to be able to learn a multitude of approaches that they can use to solve new problems.

This article https://www.youcubed.org/evidence/fluency-without-fear/ describes how number sense is the foundation for all higher level mathematics (Feikes & Schwingendorf, 2008).

If we teach children to think of numbers flexibly,  they develop number sense and are more able to work with numbers in different ways.

It will come as no surprise that some students are able to memorise facts more easily than others, but this does not mean that those same students have more ‘math ability’. 

Blind memorisation is a very weak memory.

A strong memory is the result of understanding and meaning.

Have you been told by your child’s teacher that they need to memorise their tables, and be faster at recall?

I am not against knowing your timestables but I teach it through playing with the numbers and spotting the patterns.

You don’t have to be able to recall timestables at great speeds to be a wonderful Mathematican.

Let’s take 7x9.

Higher achievers are able to answer this through flexible thinking.

Connecting 7x9 to 7x10, or that 16x8 is double 8x8.

I encourage students to find their own patterns and make their own connections to learn their timestables in a meaningful way.

Number talks are a powerful tool to use in the classroom.

I could pose the question 19x6 and instead of showing the students one way of answering this, we would spend time drawing, playing with interlocking cubes, and journaling what this question actually looks like, and for students to share strategies on how they ‘see’ the problem.

It is amazing getting a group of students together and celebrating each and every one of them and their ideas.

It’s fascinating to see how many ways different students can ‘see’ the problem.

By promoting this positive ethos we nurture a love of life long learning and celebrate the contributions of each and every person in the room.