Do kids like math? I don’t know, but I think many kids are turned off by math because they find it confusing and not related to real life situations. Math needs to be seen as a way of making sense of things; it needs to extent to other areas of life and not just left in the classroom. Another reason I think kids are turned off by math is that they are afraid of getting the answer wrong. Math isn’t art where anything goes, it’s not language arts with open-ended questions, or science- where it’s okay to predict the wrong outcome. Math has a formula; it isn’t always clear.
There are a number of ways to engage students in math that is motivating, sensible, and extends beyond the classroom. Below are some ideas for parents, and as future teachers, it’s a good way to get parents involved in the classroom. These ideas can also be modified for the classroom.
· When measuring for cooking or baking, have your kids make the measures for you. Once they get used to the whole and fractional measures, limit what they can use so that they have to reason how to get the measure they want. (For example, measure a cup of flour using only the ¼ or 1/3 cup measures.)
Good way to integrate home economics and math
· Use colored candies to teach fractions. Ask how many are a certain color and what fraction of the whole batch that color represents.
· Estimation is a powerful tool in mathematics. The next time you are traveling, have your kids estimate when you have traveled a mile, then verify it with the car's odometer. At the restaurant, challenge them to estimate the total bill.
This can also be done on field trips.
· Talk about the shapes of 'stop' signs, 'yield' signs, 'mileage' markers, designs on buildings or sidewalks, or even the lug nut on car wheels or fire hydrants.
Maybe you can get the bus driver involved.
· Take apart cereal boxes to see how the 3-D shape is made from 2-D shapes.
Ideas taken from: http://www.pbs.org/parents/experts/archive/2005/04/sharing-everyday-math-experien.html
This website has a number of other excellent ideas for extending math to other areas of life. Take a look. :)
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2 comments:
Sometimes it is the simplest things that one can teach a lesson from! Great ideas!
I love your ideas that deal with estimation (guessing the distance traveled on a trip) and geometry (picking out the shapes of road signs)! These would not only work in a math class setting, but they'd also be fabulous family activities during those many long car trips in the summer. I actually have to take a long trip with my 4 kids this weekend and you can bet I'll be "borrowing" these fun car games to use to pass the time...thank you!
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