Three Teaching Strategies To Effectively Teach Math To The Students

The math subject is the least favorite subject among all other subjects especially with kids. The numbers don't seem to get along well with them. However, this is not the reason to give up on Math. Instead, it should be a motivation to continue on researching about the effective strategies to teach the subject.

Actually, Math experts until now are continuously doing their research to find the best method to teach the subject to the kids. Many strategies have already been introduced such as these strategies below that have proven its efficiency many times.

1. Direct Instruction. This kind of strategy involves using clear and direct language in teaching the subject. In this setup, the teacher should lead in the completion of sample problems and point out the difficult aspects of the said problem. He should then let the student solve the problem with his supervision. Should there be any questions, the teacher should be able to clarify this with the student. Then, the students should work on another problem without the help of the teacher. The teacher then, assesses the student's performance through this independent assignment.

2. Peer tutoring. This kind of strategy involves two students with the same or different capability who from time to time switches roles in teaching each other. While the other student acts as a tutor, the other one acts as a student. To make this strategy effective, there should be frequent and honest feedback between the two students. Positive reinforcements should also be used to encourage each other. Also, this can be more effective if the lessons are given in a form of a game. Throughout the session, the teacher should monitor and give feedback to the students.

3. Cooperative learning. This kind of strategy involves a small group of students with different abilities to work together for everyone to learn. Of the three strategies, this method has gained more favorable results according to research. The setup of a heterogeneous group to learn enables each member of the group to maximize their learning.

The teacher in this strategy provides the group with problems for the students to practice on. The students should discuss and solve the problem as a group. Through this strategy, not only will they develop their understanding and analytical skills, they will also develop their social skills through constant interaction with other kids.

Just a reminder for teachers, before implementing the best strategy to teach math they should create a learning environment where the students feel motivated to learn and comfortable in their learning setup.

A Singapore math article by Dougles Chan - Search Engine Guru - The best SEO company in Singapore and globally. Contact Dougles Chan @ +(65) 9388 0851 or email to dc@dougleschan.com for more information on how to make your website to be the top in Google.

To Be a Good Student in Math & Home Tutors - Benefits and Challenges

First you need to get some important materials for your studies and those are: pens, pencils, a calculator, white sheets of paper, your Math book and notebook. You need to take these materials to the places where you are going to practice and study, so you can develop your Math problems.

Then you need to go to the school and pay attention to everything the teacher says in class and to write it in your notebook. It is important to ask the teacher all the dudes that you have, so you are not going to waste time trying to understand it by yourself. The teacher has the responsibility to explain you everything that you do not understand. If you do this, it would be easier for you to do the homework.

After that, you would need to practice Math by doing the homework that the teacher assigns. It is good for you to develop the entire homework, so you could practice more and get better by resolving the problems. Also you could ask the teacher any question that you have of the homework. If you do this, it would not take you much time to study for the test.

Lastly, you would need to study for the test by checking the problems of the homework that you did and how to resolve them. Besides you practiced and did the homework, it is important to study because it lets you remember everything and shows you if you are well-prepared for the test.

I hope you followed every of my steps, because if you did, you are going to improve in Math and for sure you are going to get good grades. These are my secrets and I hope that then helped you. You can follow them for every test and it is sure that you are going to get the same excellent result.

Home Tutors - Benefits and Challenges

Because children have different modes of coping in school, it is unavoidable for some of them to find it difficult to catch up with certain subjects. Not all students perform at the same level in school, and not all of them share the same views with respect to subject matter presented in class. Just as an example, it has been already a common notion that math can be a very tough subject in school, and so many students need extra help to overcome their anxiety with it.

As mentioned by many parenting and educational authorities, tutoring offers benefits to students who need an extra boost in school.The one on one method of teaching helps in making a child focus better on specific problem topics. There are also students who have above average grades, who still benefit further from having personal tutors who help maintain their scholastic standing. In the cases of college coeds and university students, peer to peer tutoring is both a means of academic assistance and a mode of socialization.

The question often asked is: why does one choose to become a home tutor anyway? Surely, there is some level of difficulty in picking this as a part time job, full time job, or a business venture. For those who like dealing with children, tutoring is a smart means of earning extra income while helping others at the same time. For those who want to have a teaching career, becoming a personal tutor is a stepping stone towards reaching that goal. There are researches that explain how a tutoring environment, whether it is with younger students or peers, can be essential in the preparation of a future educator in his career.

Along with the benefits of home tutoring programs, there are also challenges that are posed to the personal tutor. For one, since not all children or students are created equal, there may be others who are very difficult to teach. There may be children who feel anxiety because of school stress factors, and may not be entirely receptive to the teaching methods of a home tutor.

In this case, it is the role of the private tutor to manipulate his teaching plan in accordance with the skill, interest, and needs of the student. If the child seems bored with the topic, the tutor should make it more lively, fun, and easy to understand. If a certain problem, say in math, is too hard to figure out, the tutor should retrace their steps and explain the basics of the lesson to the student. Home tutors play very essential roles in the academic development of a child, and their effectiveness has been proven by so many. It is not a wonder why home tutoring programs are still put to use in many educational institutions today.

A Singapore math article by Dougles Chan - Search Engine Guru - The best SEO company in Singapore and globally. Contact Dougles Chan @ +(65) 9388 0851 or email to dc@dougleschan.com for more information on how to make your website to be the top in Google.

Math Teaching Tip Number 3: An Example of Informal Assessment

A few years ago I tried out a new kind of informal assessment. I had noticed that some of the high school algebra students were confused by expressions like "5a + 3 (a + 7)." I wanted to find out what they really understood about the distributive property and the gathering of like terms. So I took a pencil and a clipboard with two pieces of paper on it, and wrote "8a" on the top piece of paper. Next,

I lifted up the top paper and drew a vertical line down the middle of the second page-and then let the top page fall back into place. As the students meandered in before class, I went up to one of them and said quietly, "I'm taking a little survey; mind if I ask you a question?" Then I pointed to the "8a" on my clipboard and asked, "What does this mean to you?" The kid said, "I don't know." "OK, thank you," I said politely, and turned away from the student. I jotted down the kid's name to the left side of the vertical line on the second page; that was where I wrote the names of students who I would gather later in a small group for remedial work. I turned to another pupil, who said, "It means eight times some number." I thanked him and wrote his name on the right side of my recording page. The next student said, "It means you've got eight a's." "And what does that mean-that you've got eight a's?" I asked. "I don't really know," she said. I wrote her name on the left side. The passing period between classes is short, but it was enough time to identify a small group of students that needed remediation.

Looking back at this experiment, I think there were certain aspects that made it successful. First, my survey focused on a key underlying concept that was essential for success in the students' current math work. Second, I selected students that I suspected might not know the answers to my survey question (students who usually scored low on homework and tests, or who rarely spoke up in class). Third, I approached the students in a relaxed, informal manner before class, when the ambient noise and movement would provide the mini-interviews with a pressure-removing cover of privacy. Fourth, I wanted them to feel and know that I was sincerely interested in knowing what they thought; and I wanted them to feel at ease, so they would be inclined to honestly tell me what was on their minds.

So I purposely used a conversational tone of voice, rather than an authoritative teacher voice-which could have communicated a feeling of "I'm going to ask you something that you really ought to know, so pay attention, concentrate, and answer correctly!" Fifth, to keep the students feeling at ease and to protect the authenticity of future similar encounters, I didn't tell them if they were right or wrong; I purposely suspended judgment in favor of just getting honest input.

This worked so well with the first class, I decided to try it again with several students from the next class. As before, there were a few students who did not understand the meaning of the "8a" notation. Then it occurred to me to probe a little farther, so I also wrote "5a + 3a" on my clipboard, and asked the students what that meant. Every single student told me that would equal 8a. And when asked again what 8a meant, they still didn't know. Now that was interesting-they were fluent with the process of gathering like terms, but did not understand what the terms meant!

I tried this same informal assessment technique another time when I wanted to find out who needed help with squares and square roots. When undertaking the Pythagorean Theorem or quadratic equations, it's essential for students to know what a2 or x2 stands for-and that they know squares at least up to 152. So this time I wrote 52 on the top page of my clipboard, and asked selected students what it meant to them. Some said "twenty-five," others said "ten," others waffled between those two answers, one thought it might be "seven," some were certain, some were not sure, and some had no idea. To probe further, I also wrote 112 and 142 and √100 and √169 and √225 on the clipboard. I found that some students who knew 52 did not know the larger squares; some knew about the squared numbers, but knew nothing about square roots. I also noticed that some students overheard what other surveyed students near them had said, so I added 72 and 82 to my list of questions to prevent them from merely mimicking their classmates. Once again, this survey process produced an accurate selection of students for small-group remediation later in the class period.

When helping out another teacher with his class, I asked if I could do a similar informal survey with his students. I had recently helped one of his students with some other math work, and discovered that she knew nothing at all about squares and roots. I was hoping to help her and some other students with that on this day, and wanted to gently and accurately identify students who would benefit from a small group remedial lesson. The teacher didn't like the survey idea, and instead wrote a dozen simple expressions containing squares and roots on the board, explained that he wanted to find out who needed help on this sort of thing, passed out paper, and asked students to write their answers. This approach seemed to be simple and direct, but it had less than the desired effect. Students were immediately troubled: "Why were they being tested on this?! No one said anything about there being a test today! Everyone knew that stuff! Who on earth would need help with that?! Did he think they were stupid?! What a waste of time! Etc." Finally the class quieted down and wrote their answers.

Then they exchanged and corrected papers. Guess who got all the answers right but one? Yes, the girl who didn't know any of it. She was very proud, very protective of her ignorance-and an absolutely consummate cheater. No way was anyone going to find out that she didn't know that stuff; she made sure that one way or another she got those answers. I wished that we could have just taken the informal survey approach; even though it was less comprehensive than a written quiz, it was more gentle, more accurate, and less time-consuming.

Judging from the number of low-achieving math students in almost every school, it's clear that even an excellent teacher can give a splendid lecture to an interested, involved class-and the students' subsequent class work, homework, and tests can nevertheless be riddled with conceptual and factual mistakes. "I taught it, but they didn't learn it" is an oft-repeated teacher lament.

Trying to teach students lessons that they are not prepared to learn is an exercise in futility. To be successful, lessons must address the minds of the students exactly where they are-not where they are supposed to be. For that to happen, teachers must be aware of what their students really know. In an effort to put their finger on the pulse of their pupils' minds, teachers usually utter two obligatory words at the end of every lecture: "Any questions?" But all too often, students do not ask questions when given the opportunity to do so. So the teachers are left to wonder: Who doesn't know what?

If they knew the answer to that question, they would have a realistic chance to do something about it.

But even better than the typical end-of-the lesson query-the before-the-lesson mini-survey is an informal assessment tool that teachers can use to get a more accurate picture of the current state of their students' mathematical thinking. This awareness can help them to adapt the content, delivery style, and pace of the lesson in ways that fit more comfortably to the developing minds of their students-right where they are, not where they should be. When the teachers know the mathematical contents of their students' minds half as well as they know the content of the math lesson they're about to teach, then it will be much more possible for them to proudly proclaim, "I taught it, and they learned it!"

A Singapore math PR article by Scotts Digital, a top marketing firms in Singapore

Multiplication For Kids

If your kids are also having trouble in learning multiplication, then it is better to change the pattern of teaching them rather than scolding the child. You can make multiplication for kids much easier by putting an element of fun in it. It is a very well known fact that children learn better in a pressure free and entertaining environment. And this environment is provided to the kids in the early stages of their schools.

But as they grow older, schools and parent, for some reason, start to take away the fun element from their studies and increase the pressure to improve. This is a real shame as this is the time when kids need a friendly environment while studying as the pressure of learning has just started to build up. This is why, many kids start finding math boring.

But if we start teaching math to kids like a game then we would be able to make it very easy to learn multiplication. You can find many great games in the market which teach multiplication to kids. These games use fun methods like flash cards, board games and puzzles to make multiplication easy for kids. You can even make up your own multiplication games with the kid's toys and other objects. For example, here is a fun game that you can do by yourself with a bunch of marbles.

Now take two marbles in hand and ask your kid to count them. Then ask him to take two more marbles and place them in a different pile. Then, ask your kid to count the marble again. He will obviously count 4 and then explain the concept of 2x2 = 4 to him. Keep doing this exercise until your kid understands multiplication completely. You can slowly teach all the tables with this method.

You can also search on the internet to find such games. There are many websites which provide multiplication games for free. These games teach multiplication to kids in a fun way. As you know that today kids love to play virtual computer games and internet multiplication games combine the fun of those with learning. Internet is also helpful in finding tips to simplify the process of teaching multiplication to the child.

But one important thing while teaching multiplication to kids is that neither any of parents nor teachers should ever make the child feel incompetent about not learning multiplication quickly. Every child is different and has his or her own pace of learning. Scolding or treating the child in a different way than others would only instil the sense of inferiority complex in the child.

Treat the child carefully and never let him feel that it is his fault that he is not been able to learn multiplication quickly.

A Singapore maths article by Dougles Chan - Search Engine Guru - The best SEO company in Singapore and globally. Contact Dougles Chan @ +(65) 9388 0851 or email to dc@dougleschan.com for more information on how to make your website to be the top in Google.

I Hate Fractions, Now What?

Fractions are the pits. You know you can't just add or subtract them even though multiplying and dividing them is not too bad. But since addition is the most popular arithmetic operation, that's where the darn problem is. I mean those pesky denominators always get in the way. Yet fractions appear everywhere you look: look at the price of gas, which is hovering about $3.00 per gallon and you see something like "Unleaded Regular - $2.79 9/10"; or take a look at the unit prices in supermarkets and you might see something like 33 ½ cents per pound, or 16 1/3 cents per ounce. Let's face it, you're not escaping these little monsters so you better just get used to them.

So how do you deal with these nasty little creatures? Well, it really is not that hard to work with fractions. You just need some tools that will help you or your child deal a death blow to the seemingly unending array of problems that fractions can cause.

An important point to make here is that fractions are an integral part of any child's mathematical education, and, if not learned properly, can severely hinder progress in this subject: all of mathematics either directly or indirectly ties to numbers, and yes, fractions make up a large portion of the real number system which is used extensively in algebra, geometry, and even the Calculus. As pointed out above, children become frustrated with fractions because you can't add or subtract them like one does with ordinary numbers. With fractions, you need a common denominator before the addition or subtraction operation is negotiated..

Reaching the common ground with fractions--common ground being the common denominator--is not difficult once a little trick is learned. For example, to add 3/10 and 2/15 all you need do is ask, "What is common to 10 and 15?" That is what is the largest number that divides both 10 and 15? The largest number to do this feat is 5, and this is known as the greatest common factor of 10 and 15.

Thus multiply 10 and 15 together to get 150, then divide this result by 5 to get 30. This last number is the least common denominator of both 10 and 15. Now to finish off our problem of adding 3/10 and 2/15 we find out how many times each of the denominators goes into the number 30. In this case we have 30/10 is 3 and 30/15 is 2. We multiply each of these quotients 3 and 2 by the respective numerators 3 and 2 to get 3x3 is 9 and 2x2 is 4. We add these last two results, 9 and 4, to get 13. We put this number over the common denominator 30 to get our final answer of 13/30. That's it folks. Nothing too hard to learn. And this method works all the time.

So get on board with fractions and don't let their seemingly bullying attitudes get to you or your children. For you can beat these numbers at their game every time and turn that expression of "I hate fractions!" into one of "I love fractions!" Just watch your kids' grades soar in mathematics once they master fractions.

A Singapore maths PR article by Scotts Digital, one of the top marketing companies.

A Kumon Review: What Are the Pros and Cons of Kumon Math?

Many parents are concerned about their children's math learning, some because their child is falling behind and some because they want their child's math knowledge to be stretched. The Kumon Math program, is a natural choice for many parents, as it offers a program where students of all abilities can progress at their own pace. Read this Kumon review to find out the pros and cons of this popular math program.

The Pros

1) It is more than 50 years old
The Kumon Math program is an established system which has improved the math skills millions of children worldwide.

2) Students are given daily worksheets
As well as studying at the Kumon center once or twice a week, students are given homework for each day they are not at the center. Practicing math skills daily is a sure-fire way to becoming better and more confident at math.

3) It is an individualized learning program
Students are given work based on their ability, not their age and their progress through the program is based on how quickly and accurately they complete their work.

4) It builds independent learning skills
Students are encouraged to study the examples themselves in order to work out how to tackle new work. This is an excellent skill for students to develop which will help them in their other school subjects and throughout life.

5) Excellent medium to long-term results
Most students who remain on the Kumon Math program for at least 2 years will have developed fast, accurate and confident math skills as a result of the daily practice.

6) It is cheaper than a private tutor
The Kumon Math program is about half the price of a private tutor, furthermore, all materials are provided in the monthly fee.

The Cons

1) It is more expensive than online math programs
The Kumon Math program is around 3 times the price of online math programs, many of which offer the same benefits of Kumon.

2) The instructors aren't teachers
The franchisees are men and women with various employment and academic backgrounds who are then trained in the Kumon method. Very few are qualified math teachers.

3) Students find the work boring and repetitive
In the program, topics are repeated until the student has reached mastery. This repetition carried out and the daily practice can be difficult for children who are used to the variety of math work offered at school.

4) It doesn't cover the whole math curriculum
The program focuses on arithmetic, number manipulation and algebra, which makes up only a third of the math curriculum. Students won't practice (much) geometry or any statistics in the Kumon program.

5) The implementation of the program can differ from franchise to franchise
Every franchise uses the same program, but some centers will be more strict in enforcing accuracy and speed criteria and in how much they will teach a student.

6) It uses it's own methods to teach math concepts
In general, Kumon uses traditional methods to teach arithmetic and number manipulation, whereas most schools have developed varied modern methods to present math topics.

With these pros and cons in mind, speak to your local instructor, read other Kumon reviews and speak to other parents in order to see if the Kumon program is a good fit for your child.

A Singapore math PR article by Scotts Digital, a digital branding agency in Singapore

Finger Multiplication - Times Tables With Fingers

Multiplying with your fingers

Finger notation
From the earliest times people counted on their fingers and often still do. In ancient civilizations systems were developed so that numbers could be represented by positions of the fingers in a manner similar to that currently used by deaf mutes. The left hand usually represented the lower numbers and those above 100 were calculated on the right. In his tenth satire Juvenal, the Roman writer, says: "Happy is he indeed who has postponed the hour of his death so long, and finally numbers his years upon his right hand."
Multiplication times tables take time to learn and before paper and pen were common a finger based system was developed to aid rapid calculation.

Multiplication using fingers
From finger notation there developed a system of finger computation.

Examples:
To multiply 7 by 8 Subtract 5 from 7 and raise two fingers on one hand, subtract 5 from 8 and raise three fingers on the other. Add the 3 and 2 to give the tens column =5 and multiply them to give the units =6 and the answer is: 56.
6 by 6 Raise one finger on each hand and add 1+ 1 = 2 multiply the remaining fingers 4x4= 16 add 2 to the ten column of 16 =36.
6 by 7 Raise one finger on one hand and two on the other and add 1+ 2 = 3 multiply the remaining fingers 4x3= 12 add 3 to the ten column of 12 =42
8 by 9Raise three fingers on one hand and four on the other and add 3+ 4 = 7 multiply the remaining fingers 2x1= 2 add 7 to the ten column of 2 =72
This formula explains the calculation: (10-a)(10-b) = 10(5-a+5-b)+ab
In a similar manner we can find the product of numbers from 10 to 14

Examples:
To Multiply 14 by 13 Raise four fingers in one hand and three on the other and add. Multiply the addition by ten = 10(4+3). And add the 4x3 = 10x7+12. Add this to one hundred: 100+ 70+12=182.

11 by 15 Raise one finger in one hand and five on the other and add. Multiply the addition by ten = 10(1+5). And add the 1x5 = 10x6+5. Add this to one hundred: 100+ 60+5=165.
12 by 13Raise two fingers in one hand and three on the other and add. Multiply the addition by ten = 10(2+3). And add the 2x3 = 10x5+6. Add this to one hundred: 100+ 50+6=156.
This formula explains the calculation: (10+a)(10+b) = (1000+10(a+b)+ab.

This method of multiplication was commonly used in the middle ages and made it unnecessary to learn the times tables beyond 5 by 5. It was particularly useful at international fairs and such events where people did not speak the language, and was in use in undeveloped countries until comparatively modern times.

Nowadays, all you need is a calculator to do your multiplication even if you have forgotten your times tables, but the trusty finger is still very much in use.

A Singapore maths article by Scotts Digital, a top branding agency Singapore

Using The Bar Model in Singapore Math

There are a number of reasons why Singapore math works. One of them is the use of visual representation. Kids get to better understand the problem, take note of obvious patterns, analyze the sequence and identify what needed to be done. It has, time and time again, proven to be an effective tool in stimulating the child's mind and developing his analytical and cognitive abilities.
One of the more popular tools for visual representation is the use of bar models.

Why It Works
Bar models allow the kids to simplify word problems. By presenting them through bars, they will be able to identify the issues involved, see the patterns and come up with the right solution. Bar models help the kids portray the word problems in a different perspective. They will be able to understand and see the relationships of the numbers involved.

The good thing about it is that it covers a broad scope. It can be applied to numerous math transactions. Thus, students across different levels can make good use of it. They can start with addition and subtraction, see how the numbers are related through the bar model. When they're used to it, they can apply the same technique to multiplication and division. It can then be extended to ratios, fractions and percent. That's how practical they are. That's how useful bar models can become in the math lessons of your kids.

How It Works
Bar models can be used in two different ways, either through the part-whole model or the comparison model.

1. Part-Whole Model
This model can be used in various math applications - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Based from its name, it is effective in presenting a number as part of a whole.

Example: Adam has 10 apples and Ben and 30 apples. How many apples do they have in total?

Solution: Draw a long bar which represents the total number of apples that both Adam and Ben have. Divide it into two. One part is shorter while the other one is three times longer than the first part. This would help the kids illustrate the problem. The shorter part of the bar signifies the 10 apples of Adam and the longer part is used to represent the 30 apples of Ben. Kids will immediately identify the math application that needed to be used in this problem - addition.

This particular model can also be used when a part is missing. If the only given figures are the total 40 apples and Adam's supply of 10 apples, kids will realize that by subtracting one number from the other, they will arrive at the missing part. The bar model is useful in this situation by drawing the whole model and the shorter bar of 10 apples. Kids will have to identify the missing part.

2. Comparison Model
Like the part-whole model, the comparison model can be used in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. But the difference of the two is that this use two bars while the former model uses only one bar. The presence of two bars allows the kids to compare the two and identify what is missing from the other.

Example: There are 100 sticks in the pile. If Bea got 20 sticks, how many sticks will be left in the pile.

Solution: Draw two bars. One will be longer than the other. The longer bar represents the 100 sticks. The shorter one represents the 20 sticks of Bea. By comparing both bars, kids will realize that they need to subtract 20 from 100 to get the missing part.

A Singapore maths educational article by Scotts Digital, a top marketing firms in Singapore