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In the News: Teaching Math

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Here are a couple of interesting articles about teaching math:

Good Stories, Good Math

Math Trek (Nov. 10, 2007) — Spinning a good yarn may seem to have little to do with mathematics, but a new study suggests otherwise. Preschoolers who tell stories that include many different perspectives do better in math two years later than those who stick to one simple perspective. The researchers believe that the study may highlight a deep connection between mathematical ability and narrative skills… [Hat tip: Wild About Math!]

Gesturing Helps Grade School Children Solve Math Problems

ScienceDaily (Nov. 5, 2007) — Are math problems bugging your kids? Tell them to talk back — using their hands. Psychologists at the University of Chicago report that gesturing can help kids add new and correct problem-solving strategies to their mathematical repertoires. What’s more, when given later instruction, kids who are told to gesture are more likely to succeed on math problems…

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Game: Hundred Chart Nim

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Photo by Håkan Dahlström via flickr.

Math concepts: addition and subtraction within 100, logical strategy
Number of players: 2 or 3
Equipment: printed hundred chart (also called a hundred board) and beans, pennies, or other tokens with which to mark numbers — or use this online hundred chart

Set Up

Place the hundred chart and a small pile of tokens where both players can reach them.

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How to Read a Fraction

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Fraction notation and operations may be the most abstract math monsters our students meet until they get to algebra. Before we can explain those frustrating fractions, we teachers need to go back to the basics for ourselves. First, let’s get rid of two common misconceptions:

  • A fraction is not two numbers.
    Every fraction is a single number. A fraction can be added to other numbers (or subtracted, multiplied, etc.), and it has to obey the Distributive Law and all the other standard rules for numbers. It takes two digits (plus a bar) to write a fraction, just as it takes two digits to write the number 18 — but, like 18, the fraction is a single number that names a certain amount of whatever we are counting or measuring.
  • A fraction is not something to do.
    A fraction is a number, not a recipe for action. The fraction 3/4 does not mean, “Cut your pizza into 4 pieces, and then keep 3 of them.” The fraction 3/4 simply names a certain amount of stuff, more than a half but not as much as a whole thing. When our students are learning fractions, we do cut up models to help them understand, but the fractions themselves are simply numbers.

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Solving Complex Story Problems II

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Oops! I found one more post from my old blog. It apparently slipped off the back of my metaphorical desk and has been sitting with the dust bunnies.]

Here is a math problem in honor of one of our family’s favorite movies…

Han Solo was doing some needed maintenance on the Millennium Falcon. He spent 3/5 of his money upgrading the hyperspace motivator. He spent 3/4 of the remainder to install a new blaster cannon. If he spent 450 credits altogether, how much money did he have left?

[Modified from a word problem in Singapore Primary Math 5B. Stop and think about how you would solve it before reading further.]

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Quotations XVII: If People Don’t Believe That Mathematics Is Simple…

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Quotes from my blackboard during October:

Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first, and the lesson afterward.

— Vernon Law

What, after all, is mathematics but the poetry of the mind, and what is poetry but the mathematics of the heart?

— David Eugene Smith

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The “I Rank #1 on Google!” Meme

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

David Ng started it. Kurt Van Etten improved it. And I heard about it from MathMom. Now, you’re invited to play, too. It’s fun!

Here Are the “Rules”

1. Search for your blog on Google. Try to find 5 different phrases that produce your blog as the #1 hit.

2. You may enclose the search phrase in quotes if necessary, but a search without quotes is preferred.

3. Score your search phrases based on the total number of hits. As Kurt wrote:

The ideal search phrase would have your blog being number one out of something like a million hits returned. As it turns out, this is much easier to do than it might sound.

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How Shall We Teach Fractions?

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

How did you fare on the Frustrating Fractions Quiz? With so many apparent inconsistencies, we can all see why children (and their teachers) get confused. And yet, fractions are vital to our children’s test scores — and scores are important to college admissions officers. What is a teacher to do? Must we tell our children, “Do it this way, and don’t ask questions”?

Parents and teachers are tempted to wonder if the struggle is worth it. After all, how often do you divide by a fraction in your adult life? If only we could skip the hard stuff…

Continue reading How Shall We Teach Fractions?