Remember when I said there is no math gene? I meant it. But to underscore it, I’m going to share my son’s artwork. What does art have to do with math genes? Take a look at the photo. These are some of the art pieces that are hanging on my wall created by my oldest son. (My youngest son has an art wall, as well.) I’ll have to admit, these pieces are pretty good. The longboard piece (Gustave Caillebotte’s Paris…
The word ‘math’ conjures up a lot of different feelings in adults. Some have always liked the challenge that math offers. But for far too many, ‘math’ brings up negative emotions. It’s the reason why the sentence, “I was never any good at math” is so widely accepted. But it doesn’t need to be that way. In fact, it shouldn’t be that way. We actually have more control about our feelings towards math than we my think. Since math anxiety…
Part of figuring out how to help kids grow up comfortable with math, is to understand what math is. If you ask a group of first graders to describe math, the responses are very similar. Math is adding and taking away. Older elementary students will add multiplying and dividing. When prodded to include more, there are often long pauses followed by kids giving the same answer but in a different way. Rarely does anyone describe math as shapes or patterns…
I want you to fast forward to a time when your children are young adults and someone asks them the question, “What do you think of math?” How would you like them to respond? Will their answer be: “I don’t really like math. I was never good at it.” Or perhaps: “Math was a breeze for me. I loved calculus.” And how did you feel when you read each of those statements about math? Did you relate to either one?…