Have you ever heard someone say "I'm just not good at math"? Well, my personal experience has shown me that a lot of people feel that way. However, they may not be able to master calculus, but everyone is a master at math in their own way. The thing is, math skills start at a very young age. Children are very impressionable, and are susceptible to taking on the same attitude about a subject as their parent if they have been exposed to it. This can be completely detrimental to a child's development. So, as I was wandering around the internet, I found this article (see below) that piqued my interest.
The article explains how that starting to teach a child math at a younger age can help them in the long run. It also makes a good point that most children are encouraged to read, and that their parents will sit with them and read to them, or with them. But how often do you hear of a parent that sits down with their child to learn math? That's exactly what this article talks about. It shows that things that may be meaningless to an adult, can be beneficial to a child. What I mean is this, such simple things as counting, or learning different shapes can help a child's math skills. Statements to this effect are also mentioned in the article.
I will say that I was one of those people. I thought I stunk at math, but after I graduated high school and started working, I realized that I actually enjoyed working with numbers (I worked as a mortgage processor for over 10 years). Being that most jobs require some type of math skills, it is imperative that children be taught these skills as well. The article is more focused towards parents with young children, but it shows that even just a little time spent learning some basic math skills can only help their development.
To view the article, click here: http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/math/math-tips-for-parents/instill-a-love-of-math/
No comments:
Post a Comment