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A
father and his son came to see me the other day looking for a tutor. He
said, “My son is in Grade 5 and he is having a lot of trouble with math.
I was always terrible in math and hated it when I was in school, so I
guess he is just the same as me. I want him to do better than I did in
school. Can you help me?”
ANALYSIS
OF THE SITUATION
Shortly after the
meeting began I asked the son to work out a few examples in a book I had
in the office and took the father aside. I strongly suggested that despite
his own hatred of math, it was critical to the success of his son that he
NEVER, NEVER, again talk openly in front of his son about how hard it was
for him to learn math when he was young or how it is so hard for him to
understand concepts in math. Unfortunately, children latch on to the
hang-ups of their parents, and if their mother or father had trouble
learning math, then it is understandable and even expected that they will
have trouble as well.
Math anxiety affects up
to 50% of the population, and yet basic numeracy skills are necessary in
order to succeed in the world as we know it today. We must reduce
the math anxiety level among our young children, especially since research
results coming out of
Ontario
indicate that kids, especially boys, begin to hate math at about Grade 3.
This is largely because they become fearful of math and lose their self
confidence.
I pointed out to the
father that to be numerate means that you are fluent with numbers,
mathematical knowledge, problem solving and special sense. You must also
be able to balance a chequebook, calculate a tip, measure the distance and
volumes for household tasks. And yet, it is estimated that over 40% of the
population has difficulty with these everyday tasks. The goal of every
parent should be to make sure that their children are both literate and
numerate.
Werner Liedtke, an
education professor specializing in math at the University of Victoria
explained, "The key part to numeracy is having a sense of
numbers; what do they tell you, what do they mean; the sense of
relationship between those numbers; knowing what data tells you and
doesn't tell you; and having a spatial sense.”
“The signs of a
society that is not very numerate are in plain view,” Liedtke continued.
"Why are there so many people that gamble? And so many people that
believe if they buy two tickets they double their chance of winning the
lottery? Why do people put so much faith in numerical tests and data?”
RECOMMENDATION
In
developing a personal tutoring program for this father’s son, I made it
clear that he would have to be prepared to follow-up with some very
important activities in between tutoring sessions. The personal tutor will
try to put some fun back into math, especially when it comes to helping
the young boy master some of the basic numerical facts of adding,
subtracting, multiplying and dividing. However, we will refrain from
“speed drills” and mere rote learning. Instead, we will spend time
showing the child how he can make sense out of the world around him with
mathematics. We will develop our own math problems using the actual
environment in the home and outside. We will create very real problems and
then go through the thinking and reasoning process needed to come up with
a suitable solution.
For example, it is easy
to come up with examples all around us to demonstrate the concepts of
fractions, geometry, percentages and other topics that are taught in
class.
The tutor will spend
some time each session working with the boy to help him understand the
concepts that are being taught at school in order to help him achieve
higher marks and build up his confidence. We will also show him how to
study for math tests in a way that will be exciting and rewarding and that
will produce desired results.
One of the most
effective procedures I have seen for developing this important
self-confidence is to get children accustomed to estimating answers
instead of trying to come up with the exact answer immediately. As we get
older we find out that in many cases an estimate will serve our purposes
quite well. But it takes skill to become good at estimating.
In between tutoring
sessions the father and his wife will have to become more observant when
it comes to finding mathematics in their every day activities. And they
will have to take time to talk to their son about how math concepts are
being used in these activities. This can be done while grocery shopping,
driving in the family automobile, or watching sporting activities. You can
even get your son to develop measurement concepts by getting him to help
you with the cooking and baking.
The ultimate goal in
this case is to make sure that the young boy learns to love math and
approaches new concepts and problems with confidence and determination.
Math does not need to be something you fear. Instead, it can be the key
that unlocks the world around you. |
