Tag: Math

New Approaches to teaching fractions [Article]

For the parents struggling to teach fractions, research suggests using pies isn’t necessarily the best way:

When two pizzas sit side-by-side, slices of one divided into sixths may not look that different from slices of another divided into fifths……..Fraction bars and number lines are considered easier than circles for children to draw and divide into parts. They also let students line up fractions in a row and see the difference in size, something they can’t do when dividing up a pie in the traditional approach.

for the parents: Bedtime math instead of bedtime stories [Interview]

Laura Overdeck is the founder of “Bedtime Math,” thinks that tucking kids in with equations every night helps kids keep up their math skills over summer vacation. Listen to (or read the transcript of) her interview with Ira Flatow of NPR.

What’s really great is when parents just weave math into the daily routine, into playtime. And I think that a lot of adults have math anxiety and shy away from doing that. Then kids go off to school, and their first introduction to math is school, which is homework and drilling. If kids can discover math before they have any preconceived notions, they’re just going to be on much better footing.