[Hey all, check out this I Love Math wallpaper, for free download]
Getting math facts into kids brains is a big challenge,let alone trying to make them love math and learn it further. I've some little research on the possible reasons that would make little ones steer away from math, dubbing it unkool, and found those 4 reasons. I'd love to hear from you if you disagree or have more reasons.
1- If you as a parent hate math, most probably your kids will hate it too:
If you can’t mend bridges with math, don’t let your kids know about that. It might be too late in your life to start loving arithmetic, but there is no reason why your kids should follow your footsteps. Try to learn a math trick or two, and praise those who know math. Let your kids try their luck, they may become the next Einstein, and you might consider getting them those I Love Math sheets to hang them on their walls.
2- Same goes for the teachers, if they don’t love math and teach it with passion, no way their students would like math or even try to.
3- Too much homework at home:
In 1981, an academic study found that students aged 6 to 8 years did an average of 52 min. of homework per week. This increased to 128 min. per week in 1997. In 2006, a poll of parents conducted for AOL and the Associated Press found that elementary school students spent on average 78 min. a night to finish their homework. Excessive homework force kids mainly to hate it all. [Sudbury Valley schools are achieving great results without homework for 40 years now.]
4- Schools rally to teach kids more:
They just want to fill those empty brains in any possible way, spending less time making sure kids have mastered the basics before giving them more math. If a kid drops out on fully understanding and memorizing a basic fact, he won’t be able to understand what’s based on this fact, and so gets left behind in class, eventually shutting down his brain completely on the subject.
Of course there are more reasons, but I believe those are the most important ones, once we can sort out those, I believe others can be sorted out by themselves. Can you think of another reason?
[Image credit: RuBenIG/Flickr]
Getting math facts into kids brains is a big challenge,let alone trying to make them love math and learn it further. I've some little research on the possible reasons that would make little ones steer away from math, dubbing it unkool, and found those 4 reasons. I'd love to hear from you if you disagree or have more reasons.
1- If you as a parent hate math, most probably your kids will hate it too:
If you can’t mend bridges with math, don’t let your kids know about that. It might be too late in your life to start loving arithmetic, but there is no reason why your kids should follow your footsteps. Try to learn a math trick or two, and praise those who know math. Let your kids try their luck, they may become the next Einstein, and you might consider getting them those I Love Math sheets to hang them on their walls.
2- Same goes for the teachers, if they don’t love math and teach it with passion, no way their students would like math or even try to.
3- Too much homework at home:
In 1981, an academic study found that students aged 6 to 8 years did an average of 52 min. of homework per week. This increased to 128 min. per week in 1997. In 2006, a poll of parents conducted for AOL and the Associated Press found that elementary school students spent on average 78 min. a night to finish their homework. Excessive homework force kids mainly to hate it all. [Sudbury Valley schools are achieving great results without homework for 40 years now.]
4- Schools rally to teach kids more:
They just want to fill those empty brains in any possible way, spending less time making sure kids have mastered the basics before giving them more math. If a kid drops out on fully understanding and memorizing a basic fact, he won’t be able to understand what’s based on this fact, and so gets left behind in class, eventually shutting down his brain completely on the subject.
Of course there are more reasons, but I believe those are the most important ones, once we can sort out those, I believe others can be sorted out by themselves. Can you think of another reason?
[Image credit: RuBenIG/Flickr]
