May 18th, 2009
It would be hard to find a lovelier and more succinct description of the pervasiveness of maths and mathematical concepts than this nugget from Jo Boaler, Marie Curie professor of mathematics education at the University of Sussex, in a recent Scotsman opinion piece:
Maths exists in the petals of flowers, the rhythms of raindrops and the social networks that connect us; it is at the core of scientific and medical breakthroughs and it is a diverse and varied subject.
Read on for some great tips from an expert on how to play to a child’s strengths in maths, and encourage him or her to get the most out of the subject.
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May 14th, 2009
Humans were not born to do maths. Those, like me, who don’t dream in numbers, think this is stating the obvious, but it’s worth remembering, even so.
The human brain that lets us add, subtract, read, write, walk and chew gum (sometimes at the same time!) evolved from a brain that had different demands imposed upon it, most of which revolved around staying alive long enough to have offspring. So how have we co-opted brain regions specialised for navigating ancient woodland and savannah into helping us file our tax returns?
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May 11th, 2009
We’re no strangers to the perils of publishing. Maths-Whizz stands on the quality and accuracy of its maths exercises. When errors crop up (and, with over 2400 animated and exam-style exercises, they do) we do our best to correct them, and improve our service and software in the process.
This is all par for the course in publishing. No learning materials can be guaranteed perfect, but you’d expect a basic children’s counting book to be pretty much error-free, which is what makes the following quite so baffling and hilarious. [Thanks to FailBlog (Failblog not suitable for children).]
The authors clearly would have benefited from some basic Foundation (Kindergarten)-level online maths tutoring.
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May 8th, 2009
A UK Parliamentary report paints a damning picture of the state of primary school leavers’ maths, as reported in The Guardian yesterday.
The report’s chair, Edward Leigh, said:
It is disgraceful that over one fifth of all primary school children reach the end of their primary education without a secure grasp of basic mathematical skills.
This can have serious long-term consequences: for many then continue through secondary school without acquiring basic numeracy skills, impairing their chances in life and leaving them later in need of expensive remedial education.
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