How Can I Help My Child Become
More Interested in Math?
David L. Haury and Linda A. Milbourne
Everyone struggles with math, whether learning the multiplication tables or trying to figure out
how to stretch the monthly income to pay bills. Some find mathematics easier than others, just as
some find spelling easier. Some use mathematics extensively in their work, just as some make
more use of hammers. Everyone, though, uses mathematics daily, and limited math proficiency
leads to limited success in handling society's daily challenges.
Set the Example
One of the most important ways you can help your child develop an interest in math is by
exhibiting attitudes and values supportive of learning. Here are a few suggestions:
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Accept your child's struggle as a normal part of doing math, just as you accept his or her
struggle to become better in sports. Help uncover difficulties, and offer suggestions for
overcoming them. |
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Encourage mastery. Just as it is important to repeat fundamentals again and again in
sports until they are performed automatically, it is important to see practice in math as the
development of mastery, not as a chore. |
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Look beyond the grade. Math grades are often based on percentages of correct answers on
tests and assignments accumulated during a grading period, so they may not reflect
understanding that your child has developed over the course of a grading period. Help
focus on understanding and try to identify specific difficulties. |
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Discover the textbook. "Reading" math can be difficult, and math textbooks are often
used as collections of assignments and homework problems. Help your child learn how to read
the math textbook, see the underlying structure, and learn from the examples provided. |
Help Children See the Math Around Them
Help children recognize the use of math around them in daily life, and engage them in games and
activities that foster familiarity with numbers and mathematical thinking. Many activities make
use of coins, containers, playing cards, or other simple household materials (see the box "Math
Activities for Kids" below).
| Math Activities for Kids
Here is a simple math game you can play with your child that makes use of playing cards:
Make 100
Take out all the cards from a deck except ace through 6. Each player draws eight cards from the
deck. Each player decides whether to use a card in the tens place or the ones place so that the
sum of the numbers comes as close to 100 as possible without going over. For example, if a
player draws two aces, a 2, a 5, two 3s, a 4, and a 6, he can choose to use the numerals in the
following way: 30, 40, 10, 5, 6, 1, 3, 2. This adds up to 97.
For other math activities appropriate for grades K through 8, see the guide Helping Your
Child Learn Math at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/Math.
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Other activities include sorting socks together on laundry day (sorting is a major function in math
and science); cooking a meal together (cooking involves math and science as well as thinking
about good health); telling and reading each other stories (storytelling is the basis for reading and
writing); and playing a game of hopscotch together (playing physical games will help your child
learn to count and start on the road to lifelong fitness). By doing these things together, you will
show your child that learning is fun and important.
You can also help your child develop an interest in math if you keep the following points in
mind:
Wrong answers may help!
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Be patient; incorrect answers tell kids that they need to look
further, ask questions, and figure out what they don't understand. |
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Sometimes a wrong answer is the result of misunderstanding
the question. |
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Ask your child to explain how he or she solved a problem; responses
may clarify whether help is needed with a procedure, the "facts" are
wrong, or a crucial concept is not understood. |
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Wrong answers may reveal something that the teacher would find
helpful. A short note or telephone call will alert the teacher to
possible ways of helping your child. |
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Help your children become risk takers. Help them examine wrong
answers, and assure them that right answers come with understanding. |
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Problems can be solved in different ways. Although a problem
may have only one correct solution, there are often many ways to
get the right answer. |
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Doing math in your head is important. The widespread use of
calculators and computers makes it increasingly important that kids
be able to determine whether an answer is reasonable. |
| A Message From John Glenn
I think space exploration offers teachers a wide variety of opportunities to engage students in all
sorts of academic disciplines, especially the sciences and mathematics. The astronauts currently
flying on the Space Shuttle and who soon will fly on the International Space Station are trained
in a variety of disciplines spanning the science and engineering spectrum. . . .
Perhaps the single most important lesson for students from our space exploration program is that
a rigorous, methodical approach to a problem or question using the scientific method can yield
answers previously thought unknowable. Instructing students [in] the scientific method will not
only enable them to follow the nearly daily discoveries in space exploration (and perhaps
participate in them directly) but will also allow them to apply rigorous, logical thought to other
aspects of their lives. |
--(c) 1998 National Space Society. Reprinted with permission.
John Glenn has distinguished himself as an aviator, astronaut, U.S. senator, and Space
Shuttle payload specialist.
To learn more about astronauts or to submit questions of your own, see the "Ask An Astronaut"
Web site at http://www.askanastronaut.com.
To learn more about National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) education
programs, curricula, and services, go to http://education.nasa.gov.
| David L. Haury is Director of the ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and
Environmental Education and Associate Professor of Mathematics, Science, and Technology
Education at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
Linda A. Milbourne is Associate Director of the ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics,
and Environmental Education at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. She is also the
AskERIC Coordinator for the clearinghouse. |
 How Can I Help My Child Become More Interested in Science?
 Table of Contents
 Why Is Homework Important?
This page was updated on Fri Nov 2 19:14:44 GMT 2001
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