Siti, 13, have been having troubles with her math subject. Everytime her math teacher comes to class, she can’t help but feel nervous and anxious because she cannot, for her life, understand all the equations being taught. She can’t concentrate because she fears she’ll be called to answer a mind bugling math problem.
Sitti is a normal Malaysian kid, who, like other kids around the world, have one emotion towards Math—fear. But what’s there to fear if you can overcome it with these easy techniques?
Overcoming Math Anxiety
1. A positive attitude will help. However, positive attitudes come with quality teaching for understanding which often isn't the case with many traditional approaches to teaching mathematics.
2. Ask questions, be determined to 'understand the math'. Don't settle for anything less during instruction. Ask for clear illustrations and or demonstrations or simulations.
3. Practice regularly, especially when you're having difficulty.
4. When total understanding escapes you, hire a tutor or work with peers that understand the math. You can do the math, sometimes it just take a different approach for you to understand some of the concepts.
5. Don't just read over your notes - do the math. Practice the math and make sure you can honestly state that you understand what you are doing.
6. Be persistent and don't over emphasize the fact that we all make mistakes. Remember, some of the most powerful learning stems from making a mistake.
But the best way to overcome your fear of math is to study mental arithmetic. Mental arithmetic will provide kids a systematic approach to problem solving that helps them with subjects other than mathematics.
Study shows that children who have undergone mental arithmetic classes achieved far better results than other students in the following: comprehensibility, mathematical abilities (including recognizing and understanding mathematical concepts, calculating abilities, mathematical problem solving skills), mathematical performance and IQ results.
Students who have had one to two years of training in mental arithmetic are found to possess a better grasp of mathematical concepts, calculation and are more efficient in solving mathematical problems than those who have less than one year’s training. Students with more than two year’s training show even better results. Thus this indicates that the longer and the deeper a child is exposed to such training the better will be his mathematical abilities.
Learning how to compute numbers mentally is important. It will effectively tap the unexploited parts of the brain and therefore promotes the overall intelligence. The practice of mental arithmetic will sharpen the imaginative and memory power. According to a scientific research, a child who lacks good mental formation can experience a sharp decline in mental abilities even as early as the age of 20. On the other hand, a child who receives this formation by the age of 12 will continue to remain brilliant even up to the age of 70.
@box @dropbox @dropshots @expono @evernote @facebook @flickr @fotki @friendfeed @gdocs @hi5 @hyves @identi @imageshack @jaiku @kewego @kodak @linkedin @lj @moby @myspace @orkut @photobucket @picasa @plaxo @plerb @plurk @shutterfly @smugmug @snapfish @sonico @soundcloud @sugarsync @tinypic @tumblr @twitpic @wordpress @yahoo @yfrog @youtube @zooomr
After reading this, you’ll love Math—again
Siti, 13, have been having troubles with her math subject. Everytime her math teacher comes to class, she can’t help but feel nervous and anxious because she cannot, for her life, understand all the equations being taught. She can’t concentrate because she fears she’ll be called to answer a mind bugling math problem.
Sitti is a normal Malaysian kid, who, like other kids around the world, have one emotion towards Math—fear. But what’s there to fear if you can overcome it with these easy techniques?
Overcoming Math Anxiety
1. A positive attitude will help. However, positive attitudes come with quality teaching for understanding which often isn't the case with many traditional approaches to teaching mathematics.
2. Ask questions, be determined to 'understand the math'. Don't settle for anything less during instruction. Ask for clear illustrations and or demonstrations or simulations.
3. Practice regularly, especially when you're having difficulty.
4. When total understanding escapes you, hire a tutor or work with peers that understand the math. You can do the math, sometimes it just take a different approach for you to understand some of the concepts.
5. Don't just read over your notes - do the math. Practice the math and make sure you can honestly state that you understand what you are doing.
6. Be persistent and don't over emphasize the fact that we all make mistakes. Remember, some of the most powerful learning stems from making a mistake.
But the best way to overcome your fear of math is to study mental arithmetic. Mental arithmetic will provide kids a systematic approach to problem solving that helps them with subjects other than mathematics.
Study shows that children who have undergone mental arithmetic classes achieved far better results than other students in the following: comprehensibility, mathematical abilities (including recognizing and understanding mathematical concepts, calculating abilities, mathematical problem solving skills), mathematical performance and IQ results.
Students who have had one to two years of training in mental arithmetic are found to possess a better grasp of mathematical concepts, calculation and are more efficient in solving mathematical problems than those who have less than one year’s training. Students with more than two year’s training show even better results. Thus this indicates that the longer and the deeper a child is exposed to such training the better will be his mathematical abilities.
Learning how to compute numbers mentally is important. It will effectively tap the unexploited parts of the brain and therefore promotes the overall intelligence. The practice of mental arithmetic will sharpen the imaginative and memory power. According to a scientific research, a child who lacks good mental formation can experience a sharp decline in mental abilities even as early as the age of 20. On the other hand, a child who receives this formation by the age of 12 will continue to remain brilliant even up to the age of 70.
@box @dropbox @dropshots @expono @evernote @facebook @flickr @fotki @friendfeed @gdocs @hi5 @hyves @identi @imageshack @jaiku @kewego @kodak @linkedin @lj @moby @myspace @orkut @photobucket @picasa @plaxo @plerb @plurk @shutterfly @smugmug @snapfish @sonico @soundcloud @sugarsync @tinypic @tumblr @twitpic @wordpress @yahoo @yfrog @youtube @zooomr
