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How to get children to want to do maths outside the classroom

There are lots of ways to get children thinking about maths, Steve Humble aka Dr Maths, tells The Conversation.聽

Ask adults about maths and they鈥檒l often say: 鈥淚 was never very good at maths at school鈥�. How can we stop young children growing up today saying the same thing?

It鈥檚 important to maths in primary school, in order to get them hooked early and want to keep doing more maths when they get home. In art and English lessons it鈥檚 easy for children to have ownership 鈥� 鈥渢his is my piece of art鈥� or 鈥渢hese are my thoughts in this essay鈥�. It might seem that in maths this is harder to do, if not impossible. But ownership of maths is important so that children and adults can also say 鈥� 鈥渢his is my maths鈥�.

One way to develop ownership is to take children on a 鈥渕aths walk鈥�, opening their eyes up to the world around them. It鈥檚 like a treasure hunt, with the treasures hidden all around us waiting to be observed.

Going on a maths walk

A typical walk consists of a sequence of designated sites along a planned route where students stop to explore maths in the environment. This makes maths come alive for children.

Anyone can create a walk that targets a range of mathematical understanding. Some questions that can be used to help switch on your 鈥渕athematical eyes鈥� include:

Find three objects which have one line of symmetry
Find an object with rotational symmetry
Find a repeating pattern
Find an object that is approximately one metre tall

Alternatively, the maths walk鈥檚 purpose could be to introduce children to places where mathematics can be found in our everyday world. These can include locations which have scientific, historical, literary, engineering, or business significance. These walks should invite all children, irrespective of their achievement level, to participate successfully in problem-solving activities and gain a sense of pride in the mathematics they create.

I recently developed a MW_MATH_TRAIL_TUBE_TRAIL_AW_REV to celebrate 150 years of the London Underground, that could be used at any of the 270 tube stations in London. Here is one of the questions from the 鈥淭ube puzzle walk鈥� called 鈥渘umber cruncher鈥�:

Each underground train carriage has an identification number. These numbers can be three, four or five digits long. Similarly, each labyrinth artwork is numbered at the bottom right-hand corner. Your challenge is to make a calculation equalling the labyrinth number using only the digits of your train carriage number.

For example, if your carriage number is 5547 and the labyrinth number is 22 then you could create the following calculation: 4 × 5 + 7 鈥� 5 = 22

If your carriage number is 21060 and the labyrinth number is 63 then you could create either one of the following calculations:

60 + 2 + 1 or 2 ⁶ 鈥�1 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 鈥� 1

Making maths stick

Motivating learning is one of the keys to creating a positive experience for all learners. It was not until I came across research that looked at the benefits of 鈥溾€� in education that I realised the power of teaching mathematics using real world examples.

Emotion is also very valuable for young children鈥檚 mathematical memory. One engaging technique is called 鈥渆pisodic learning鈥� 鈥� creating a moment in a child鈥檚 mind upon which to build learning. that these types of learning moments can help to develop stronger and longer lasting memories, which help cultivate learning.

There are lots of other things you can do with children outside school that can help their understanding of mathematics. Most of these episodes do not even seem mathematical to the children, as maths is so deeply linked to our daily life.

Card, board and dice games develop number skills, logic and strategy. Games and are fun for the whole family. Cooking together also teaches children about weights and measures. If a recipe is for two and you want to make it for five, you need to think about ratios. Cooking also involves all sorts of non-standard units of measure such as teaspoons, tablespoons, millilitres, pints and cups. Having conversations as you cook enhances children鈥檚 understanding of these units.

Travelling in the car can also bring possibilities for mathematical games such as counting cars of a certain age, colour or type that you pass. Children can learn about probability with this activity, as you may be more likely to spot silver cars than yellow.

At a young age, mathematics learning is about giving children confidence and a willingness to try. It is also about explaining mathematical ideas from an inventive perspective that encourage children to take part, think about maths differently and associate what they are learning with their everyday lives.

is Teaching Fellow Secondary PGCE Maths at 缅北禁地.

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published on: 1 September 2015