Has your child been scoring less in math tests while securing good marks in other subjects? If yes, you aren’t alone! Many parents face the same situation. There can be numerous reasons why children aren’t performing well in maths, but the primary cause is often weak subject fundamentals. If the base remains weak, it turns into fear for the subject with time.
If your kids have weak maths basics, they will likely face more difficulty understanding advanced maths concepts and lose interest in the process. This disinterest compounds as one moves towards more advanced concepts, which shows in math test results. If you want to help your children strengthen their math skills, this article is for you. After talking to our exceptional maths teachers, we at Delhi Public School Kangra, one of the best CBSE schools in Kangra, have compiled here a list of some effective tips that will help you reign over the problem of math fear among your children and bring about significant improvements. Read along to explore them all.
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Make Mathematics Fun
Maths can be challenging for many students, but things can improve if you reintroduce maths as a fun activity for kids. You can incorporate exciting activities and games into math lessons to make the subject enjoyable and likable. Parents can start by introducing games like Sudoku, Rubik’s cubes, etc., to help kids develop critical thinking skills. Board games like Monopoly, snakes & ladders, and flashcards can also be used to teach the concepts of subtraction, addition, etc. It is also an excellent way of improving their mental agility.
Incorporating maths into real-life experiences can also be helpful. An easy way to make kids comfortable with maths is by teaching them about fractions, ratios, counting, etc., by involving them in measuring ingredients. Such activities highlight that maths is a real-life skill that can be used to improve our day-to-day life.
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Break Down Concepts
This is a method we follow religiously at Delhi Public School Kangra. If your child feels overwhelmed trying to learn a maths concept, break it into simpler and easy-to-understand parts. It will help kids better understand and retain the concept for later use. An easy way to break down complex math concepts is by using colorful blocks, counters, or cubes to visualize the problem or concept.
Doing so will make the concept easier to grasp and concrete. You can also start using metaphors and analogies while explaining any math concept. If you have never done this, this process can be intimidating initially, but you’ll get a good grip on it with time.
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Practice, Practice, and Practice
Math is one subject that demands rigorous practice. If you want your kids to strengthen their math skills, you must encourage them to practice it regularly. Set aside a fixed time every day to help your kids with their maths homework or simply assist them in better understanding mathematical concepts they’re struggling with. You can take the help of workbooks, online resources, worksheets, etc., to help your kids practice maths regularly at home.
Incorporating it with an exciting game is a fun way to make them practice maths. You can create math scavenger hunts where your kids have to solve math problems to find the next hidden clue in your house. Such activities make practicing maths a fun task instead of the usual boring and feared activity.
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Use Real-Life Examples
Another practical way of strengthening your kid’s math skills is using real-life examples to help them learn practical applications of the subject. There are many ways to implement this method, but the easiest is to take your kid for grocery shopping. While shopping, make them count the total number of items in your cart, ask them to roughly estimate the total amount of the products in the cart, etc. You can also ask your kids mathematical questions, like what change the shopkeeper would give if you pay a certain amount at checkout.
Such questions make kids think, and they try to find out the answers without feeling bored. If your kid doesn’t like learning geometry, you can try identifying shapes, like triangles, rectangles, etc., whenever you’re out with your kid. It will familiarize them with the subject, and they may eventually develop an urge to explore the subject.
Conclusion
Math is a crucial skill every student must learn. At Delhi Public School Kangra, one of the top 10 CBSE schools in Kangra, we believe students should have a strong mathematical foundation. Only then can they clearly understand the subject and become qualified to proceed with advanced concepts. Some kids develop a disinterest or fear of this subject, but it can be removed if you follow all the tips in this article. Parents should know that scoring less in maths doesn’t indicate that their kid isn’t intelligent or good at studying. It only implies that the child’s basic foundation of the subject is weak, and it can be improved with proper attention and work.