Final blog entry

3 things learnt

First thing that I have learned is that the main goal of teaching mathematics to  young children is to train their minds; to prepare their minds for visualizing different concepts, see and recognise patterns and to have a good sense of numbers.

Teaching Mathematics to young children develops their ability to view things from different perspectives and to cultivate good thinking skills which enables them to think “out of the box” and be creative in their problem solving strategies. Children need to know that “whatever I don’t know, I can start with what I know”. It is important that children are equipped with such life skills as sharpening the mind and improving oneself is a constant pattern of human civilization and evolution. It also trains children to be independent in their learning and create a learning pattern of their own which is something that teachers had not taught them before. In addition, we must remember that we are to portray mathematical problems in a purposeful manner that stimulates their thinking to help them extend what they already knew to discover what they do not. Thus, as generations of children get smarter, all the more they should be provided with such opportunities for learning and development.

Second thing that I have learned is the importance of using the right language during the process of teaching mathematics. 

I have learnt that the same nouns must be used carefully and properly during maths questions so as to avoid confusion in children with regards to concepts like addition and subtraction. As teachers, I have learnt that we must be mindful of the language we used while conversing and teaching children mathematics as we do not want to inculcate the incorrect impression of concepts to children since young. The use of language to connect math concepts and children’s understanding is a significance aspect that we must take note of the very moment children start acquiring skills and knowledge on maths.

Lastly the third thing that I have learned is that visualization is a skill that can be systematically developed. 

A child with good visualization skills will be able to interpret and infer indirect problems as he possesses the ability to see things that are difficult to see. This is how we should want our young learners to be when learning mathematics instead of just providing them with the solutions and standard formulae without giving them the opportunities to explore different ideas. In order to do that, children must learn math concepts through the Concrete-Pictoral-Abstract (CPA) way. Visualization is a crucial element of a good preschool Mathematics curriculum, therefore, with that in mind, I am able to improve on the current mathematics curriculum in my centre by incorporating more activities for children to develop the skill of visualization. 

2 Questions:

• How do I teach Maths to a young learner who is showing signs of resistant to learning Maths? For example, he just does not want to participate in Math learning activities during lessons and is behaving restlessly.

• At what age can a child start learning simple Mathematics concepts (i.e counting, shapes etc) without facing the risk of being confused?