Maths. Is it a foreign language? Mathematics is often described as a universal language. It transcends language barriers. Numbers, Algebra, Fractions, Trigonometry. Do they fill your child with dread? Has Maths always been hard work? For many students in the UK, Mathematics has become a blockage, a stumbling block, a subject which is difficult to make the grade in. So why has mathematics become such a foreign language?

Having worked with hundreds of students struggling to make the grade in Maths I believe there are some essential keys.

1) Students do not have a firm foundation of how the number system works making multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100 weak and working with decimals almost impossible.

2) Tables recall is weak. Most students have not learnt these by rote and those who have found it difficult to acquire tables recall seem unable to use known facts as a starting point. A student who knows the 5 times table should be able to start at 5×7 to work out what 7×7 is.

3) Students are not always given efficient written calculation methods for written calculations. I had an A grade student who was unable to solve a long division problem.

4) Students who have mastered effective written strategies need to move on with their calculating. Whilst a number line for subtraction is great for early mastery of skills it is like stabilisers on a bike; there comes a day when the stabilisers are removed and children are able to ride by themselves. Equally in Maths there comes a day when the early strategies need to be replaced with traditional calculation methods. The grid method is great for 2 digit by 1 digit calculations but to calculate a 3 digit by 3 digit multiplication problem it is time consuming, takes a lot of space and has more room for error than the traditional long multiplication strategy.

5) Division, this is the foundation for all work on fractions, decimals and percentages. I believe that division is introduced too early and not consolidated. The introduction of the chunking method in school has caused much difficulty for children to succeed in this area of mathematics.

6) The mathematics curriculum in the UK moves on very quickly. For many children they have not mastered a skill before they have moved on. The next time this skill is encountered the gaps begin to widen as there is little or no foundation to build on.

So what can be done? Find out what topics are being covered in Maths by your child. Ensure they have got the building blocks needed or that if they have not understood a topic they are able to consolidate this before they revisit it.

Tables recall is key, being able to partition numbers, understanding the place value of each digit they are working with and how this links to the number system as a whole. Being able to double and halve numbers, knowing number bonds to 10 and 20. Having reliable age/ developmental written methods for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. I encounter many GCSE students who do not have efficient and reliable calculation methods.

Check your child understands how the number system works, this reduces concept errors in calculating. Above all children should enjoy mathematics so try to make it fun.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 12th, 2012 at 10:48 pm and is filed under Curriculum, Mathematics, Number. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.