What if instead of dismissing wrong answers as a sign of failure, maths teachers tried to understand how their pupils came to that answer and then guided them in the right direction?
Mastered it!
Girl maths via NataSnow/www.shutterstock.com
Compulsory maths and science in years 11 and 12 will have a lasting benefit, but we need to boost the skills of teachers and start teaching science even earlier.
Children struggle to develop the basic “building blocks” of maths if they’re just copying down everything the teacher tells them without understanding it.
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When rote learning and parroted answers replace real engagement with the material, children are bound to battle with maths. After-school homework clubs offer a different way of thinking.
It’s hard for kids to remember a string of arbitrary numbers.
from www.shutterstock.com.au
Teaching maths concepts has long been considered the domain of the classroom teacher, with many parents often feeling unable to help their kids develop this skill. However, parents already do many things…
There has been much publicity in recent years about China and its teachers. After the most recent results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) were published in 2013, considerable…
Extending the science sphere of influence.
Royal Society
Our world is changing at a greater pace than ever witnessed before. Our economies are changing and our understanding of the world around us is changing. Our education systems must also change too because…
Manu Kapur, National Institute of Education of Singapore
The upcoming ban on the use of calculators in most maths exams for 11-year-olds in UK schools reminds me of a persistent concern in education: when do the tools we use to learn become crutches we can’t…
Mastered numbers? Let’s make it harder.
Arenamontanus
Ever-envious of Singapore’s much-heralded success in teaching maths, politicians are keen to see its methodology arriving in UK classrooms. Education minister Elizabeth Truss explained some of the background…
Question 1: Where is the leaning tower of Pisa?
Niall Carson/PA Archive
With a heavy feeling of déjà vu, here we are again with another round of introspection on the OECD’s international Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings and the mediocre education…
Can I be a puzzle-maker when I grow up?
Child with puzzle via Shutterstock
It’s no longer enough for children just to be able to read, count or multiply. With computers now doing many mundane repetitive tasks for us, many jobs in today’s world require analytical skills and the…
Chinese students begin learning their maths facts at a very early age: maths textbooks begin with multiplication in the first semester of second grade, when children are seven years old. In order to understand…
Education minister Elizabeth Truss has travelled to Shanghai to find out the secrets behind Chinese pupils’ mathematics success. I suspect she will find that it’s a cultural phenomenon, impossible to import…
The problem mightn’t be with the equations, but the language in the questions.
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There has been a lot of hand-wringing about mathematics lately. According to national and international testing we are not getting any better at it and plenty of good reasons have been offered for why…