Many math teachers use a standardized approach to teach routine topics. Students can benefit from more creative approaches like helping them understand how they are using math and may not even know it! Applying math lessons to my students’ interests has resulted in having engaged students who learn the concepts quickly. This should come as no surprise. A basic hallmark of adult learning theory is that adults want to know why they need to learn what they are being taught. Young students are not that different than adult learners.
As a kid do you remember asking, “Why do I need to learn this?”.
It never hurts to provide a context for why students need to learn math. It may take a few minutes for tutors or teachers to learn more about their students, but it is well worth the effort. Consider three contexts within which young students and adults use advanced math concepts: money, sports, and art.
Money. We all learned the importance of money in our society at a very young age. Young children often accompany their parents to the grocery store. American money is based on a decimal system. Let’s face it, you must understand decimals and fractions to really understand what you are doing with money.
If you take a basic dollar and divide it into four equal parts, you have four quarters. $1.00 ÷ 4 = $0.25.
One dollar is equal to 100 cents. 100 ÷ 4 = 25.
Now you can equate decimals to fractions: 0.25 = ¼. Conveniently, we have a coin called a quarter that is equal to 25 cents.
You can also use money to teach basic multiplication of decimals and fractions: : $1.00 = 4 x $0.25 which is the same as 1 = 4 x ¼
When students have the manipulatives to work with, and those manipulatives are meaningful to them, they can relate to the content of the lessons and remain engaged in learning activities. Working with young children to understand fractions and decimals using money at an early age may help reduce the intimidation factor associated with math. As I explained in an earlier post, Unique Ways to Make Math Count, using various denominations of money can even help teach adults responsible skills for spending money.
Sports. Students of all ages also have a need to know and understand advanced math concepts (e.g., geometry) when they are playing sports. I recently had an elementary school girl explain to me how she uses her geometry knowledge when playing tennis. She explained that when she has her opponent out of position, she calculates the angle she needs to hit the ball to ensure it is out of her opponent’s reach. Beyond simply counting the scores, math skills, especially geometry, are used in a variety of sports including:
Baseball players need to calculate angles when trying to catch a high fly ball.
Bowlers need to do calculations based on angle and spin.
Football kickers need to calculate angles when trying to kick the ball between the uprights.
Basketball players need to calculate angles when they shoot the ball.
Golfers need to calculate angles, slope of the ground, and speed when trying to make a difficult putt.
They may not all realize it, but students are learning many lessons, including math, outside of the classroom when they are involved in sports.
Art. When I worked with preschoolers we were having them draw at an early age to make sure they had the numbers right. We counted the number of arms, legs, fingers, eyes, and ears. We looked for the details and perspective in the drawings. Of course, we had limited expectations for children that age. However, children quickly learn about perspective and start using advanced math knowledge and skills in their artwork. One of my elementary school students enjoys both math and art. She explained how she uses math in her drawings when thinking about facial characteristics and calculating the distance between two eyes. Both art and geometry require the use of shapes and an understanding of spatial relationships. Measurement and estimation are key requirements in both disciplines. Math is essential when creating three-dimensional pieces of art.
The moral of the story? The next time you encounter students that claim they do not like math, or are not good at math, ask them what they did for fun this week. If you play your cards right, you can get them to tell you how they are using math while doing things they enjoy. Help them understand that math really is not anything to be afraid of, they just need to figure out how to use it to their advantage!
In a previous post I described how learning more about my students helped me figure out “Unique Ways to Make Math Count.” When students understand the patterns in the numbers counting in increments of 10 (i.e., from 0-9, 10-19 etc.) they start to understand how to count in multiples of 2s, 5s, 10s and 20s. Students were using addition to determine the number of animals that lived on the farm and the dollars and coins required to pay for something. Subtraction was used to determine how much change they were owed when paying for an item with cash. With repeated measures (e.g., chickens laying 10 eggs a day for multiple weeks) students started to understand when and how to use multiplication.
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