FEATURE: BRIDGING THE LEARNING GAP
questions such as, “show me 20p in as few coins as possible”, or “show me what I’d have left if I paid with £1 for a chocolate bar that cost 65p” can be a great way to introduce them to basic sums. While at home, children could use spare coins as a template to draw around and display their answers to the questions. The difficulty of the questions can be varied
depending on the ability of the child and how quickly they improve their money skills. Introducing more complex multiplication and division sums can begin teaching them vital skills like splitting bills which they are likely to use as they get older. More than anything, familiarising a child with physical coins has the added bonus of teaching them the value of money in an increasingly digital world. By engaging them with simple money counting games, they can begin to see how much things are worth while improving their basic maths skills.
• Helping with the shopping One aspect of maths which plays a crucial role in our adult lives is budgeting. Everything from working out the price of a food shop, through to organising standing orders and direct debits from the bank – having a basic understanding of addition, subtraction and estimation is vital to everyday life. To give children a taste of this, teachers can create scenarios where children are encouraged to estimate how much the items in a shopping basket will cost. The beauty of this game is that it can be done both in the classroom, or in real life when the children are with their parents. Encouraging them to round to the nearest
pound can help make the task slightly easier for younger children and help them to keep track of the items being purchased. The simple game allows children to use their
mental maths skills along with helping them to estimate the price of a shop, both of which will come in handy as they become more independent.
• Cooking and baking Getting children involved with cooking and baking during interactive lessons or as an alternative homework task can be a great way to show them how maths is used every day. It teaches them a lifelong skill whilst showing that maths can be used for fun activities. It’s fair to say that most children love cakes and
sweet treats, and baking is a failsafe activity for keeping kids occupied on rainy days. During the lesson, start off by making something simple like a smoothie where it’s relatively straight-forward for children to count the number of ingredients needed. Make sure to supervise the children as they carefully pick out the fruit and add it to the blender. If you’ve prepared yourself for the inevitable mess, baking can also act as a great way to teach children the basics of measurements and ratios. Of course, this may be more difficult in a classroom and may have to be encouraged as a homework task. It’s common to use half or double of recipes to
accommodate different numbers of people. This offers a fantastic opportunity to test children’s maths skills. For example, ask them questions such as “if you’re making a recipe intended for two which requires 500ml of milk, how much would you need if you were to make the recipe for 6 people?”
July/August 2021
Alternately, “if you’re making a meal for just
one person but the recipe has ingredients for two, how much would you need for your recipe?” The beauty of cooking and baking is that the
questions you ask can be easily adapted depending on the ability or age of the child, and it’s a skill that we use all the time.
Taking advantage of technology Technology has a huge role to play in helping children catch up, particularly when you introduce Artificial Intelligence (AI) which can help with adaptive learning. Picking up areas of strength and weakness and ensuring children focus on where they need to improve in a fun and often gamified way helps get results. There are now Online learning programs
available that offer short, engaging and motivating lessons which help build a child’s confidence in a subject. For example, the Smartick platform is based around the concept of daily, 15- minute lessons designed to make maths and coding digestible. Online education providers are finding that children and parents expect more nowadays, and with so much choice on the market, it’s even more important for learning to be integrated into fun activities and games.
Productive tablet time As technology becomes increasingly integrated into the modern classroom, it’s important that it’s introduced in a positive way. There is often a lot of guilt associated with giving children tablets or phones to keep them occupied. It can feel like the easy way out, and children are often so engrossed that it can feel like it’s having a damaging effect on them. Rather than letting them browse YouTube or mindlessly play games, there are now learning platforms that exist to help them keep on top of maths. There is no reason technology can’t be used to assist learning, and if used in harmony with traditional schooling methods, it can help to form a fuller picture of the world for children.
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Keeping children engaged with maths is simply
about integrating it into their lives so it doesn’t feel like a chore. Children will quickly switch-off if they don’t feel captivated by an activity, so it’s important to understand the individual and adapt to what they enjoy. Showing children the everyday application of maths brings the subject to life, keeping them interested and involved during a time where learning has been placed under immense pressure. More than anything, it allows parents and teachers to help children catch up after what has been an unprecedented year, without making learning a stressful experience.
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