My dad sent me this image of symmetry in math, enjoy.
Archive for the 'A word from the Boss' Category
A Lesson in Subtraction and Addition
 
In 2006 I was invited to be the camp pastor at a Joni & Friends Family Retreat. At the end of the week my head was shaved to raise funds for the recreation fund. My wife liked the new look, and I have bald ever since. This summer, the volunteer beautician suggested putting it back. Voila!
What do you think?
Ask Steve - Question Two
Answering this question from Mathwiz posted on the forum,
Please help me! My daughter will not do her math. I assign her 6 pages a day (she is homeschooled) and tell her she can not do anything fun untill her math is done, but she either forgets or loses focus. I know she has the ability to sit down and do something like this beacause she does all her other school work… do you have any suggestions for making math more fun/understandable?
Ask Steve - Question One
Answering Genevieve’s question from the forum…
Good afternoon!I need some advice to help my 9 yo daughter with her facts (add/sub/mult). We drill but she still chokes on the easiest of them. She can do the problems, she just seems to delay when put on the spot. I had the same problem & do not know how to address it without exasperating her, especially since I can’t do it myself ). I’m also wondering if it’s an issue I need to worry about. Oh, I forgot to mention that she is primarily a kinesthetic learner, secondary is visual.
Q&A With Steve Demme
There was a question on the Math-U-See forum about teaching the process to a student. Here is a video of his answer.
If you have a question for Steve email me, visit the forum and ask or leave a comment and we’ll pick a few to answer 
Summer Strategy for Focusing on Facts
[guest post by Steve Demme]
One of the most oft asked questions I hear at conventions is how can I help my child learn his math facts better and with more speed? Perhaps you have a similar question. If so, then this article is for you, especially now that summer is upon us.
The first step is to discern which facts your child knows. I would get a set of flash cards and go through the stack with my student dividing the cards into two piles. The first pile would consist of facts the child knows without any hesitation. The second stack would be for facts that he either doesn’t know or is still unsure of the answer. Then I would take one fact from the second pile and build it with the blocks, write the problem out, and read it. I would always present a fact using this multi-sensory approach. I would never introduce a math fact with flash cards, but I would use them for repetition and review.
For example, if I was teaching 3 times 4, I would build it as a rectangle, 3 by 4, then I would place the bars end to end next to a 10 and a 2 to show that 3 x 4 = 12. Then I would have the student write 3×4=12 and 4×3=12 several times, and read aloud “three times four is twelve†and “four times three is twelve†as they write and build. This is how we present math facts in the Math-U-See curriculum. If this takes 1 week, 1 day, 1 hour, or 1 minute, I would still stick with this one fact until it was mastered with no hesitation. If you want to be real creative post it on the wall in the bathroom, above their bed, and on the place mat before each meal. Use your imagination and focus on one fact at a time.
When they know this fact I would move it to the first pile of facts to be regularly reviewed. Each day the student would spend time mastering one fact and then review the previously learned facts for speed and confidence. I would suggest reviewing the first stack every day. If you would rather use math worksheets for reviewing facts you may download as many as you need from our web site. Or perhaps the online drill program would be another way to review facts in addition to flash cards and worksheets. You can locate these resources at mathusee.com under “Online Helpsâ€.
I would also look for a big carrot. Something that would be a reward for the child putting this extra effort into learning his facts. This will vary for each child, but it will help with motivation. You probably know what will fill the bill, but if not ask your student.
If you use this approach during the summer you may find that not only the student, but the teacher, and the whole family will know their math facts like never before. This is just one of the benefits of a multigenerational classroom.
Have a blessed time,
Steve Demme
Why We Teach Math
Today’s blog comes to you from “That Math Guy” Steve Demme a.k.a. pop You should also check out his new website SteveDemme.com and if you are in the Missouri area you can stop by and say hi at the St. Louis Home Educators Expo March 29-30 Steve will be speaking on Friday and Saturday.
Why We Teach Math
The motivation for studying math is to be able to apply math to real life situations. These real life applications are often referred to as word problems. To be able to solve a word problem effectively you need two skills.
1. You need to know the basic math operations
2. You need to know which operation to use in which situation.
Here is an example…
I am replacing the floor tiles in the rectangular game room, which is 15 feet long and 12 feet wide. How many 1 foot by 1 foot tiles will I need?
The first step is to discern that that this is a multiplication problem and the second step is to multiply 15 by 12 accurately. A calculator can tell you what 15 x 12 is equal to, but only a thinking human being knows to multiply those numbers and not to divide them. To know which operation to employ you must understand the underlying concept of addition, multiplication, etc.
I have presented similar problems to students who have not been trained to understand math. When presented with a word problem, they would normally respond, “What do we do Mr. Demme, add, subtract, multiply, or divide?†They knew how to perform those operations, but didn’t know which one to use. Deciding which operation or algorithm to use requires understanding math concepts and not mere rote computation.
There are schools today who recognize this dilemma and work very hard at teaching students to understand math, but then they distribute calculators to each of the students. These students have a better grasp of the concepts but are helpless to calculate the answer without a machine to assist them.
I believe both elements are essential. The ideal math student possesses a mastery of the basic operations as well as a thorough understanding of the concepts of each operation. This student knows how to multiply, and when to multiply.
In Math-U-See the video instruction is designed to enlighten teachers and students alike on the key math concepts. Then the manipulatives are employed by the student until the concept has been internalized, the light goes on, and they “See†and understand math. Hence the name Math-U-See.
The textbooks then provide plenty of practice problems to master the operations (such as learning their facts) followed by several word problems to ensure that our goal has been achieved. We all want happy, confident, effective problem solvers who know how to do math and why. We want them to be able to think and calculate.
~Steve Demme
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