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Mathematics is generally considered to be an abstract form of education by many students. They develop this idea that math is a subject that exists only in the form of an idea, a thought; the subject doesn’t have any concrete existence in real life. This notion is mainly developed because their implementation of mathematics is confined within the realms of textbooks and home-works. They are unaware of the various applications of mathematics in daily life. Naturally, they do not find the subject very interesting and involve themselves in it mainly for the sake of the curriculum or exams. There are certain ways through which mathematics can be made more enjoyable from the student’s perspective. Let’s go through a few.
Students feel a little distraught in many math topics main because they have no idea why they are learning those specific math topics. They find no meaningful application of such math topics in life and hence, feel that those topics are meant just for their exam courses.
Another thing is that many teachers do tend to ignore this factor while carrying out their lessons. If a student asks him/her a question like, “Why should we study this thing?”, what should be the reply? Most often teachers come up with answers like “Because it is good for you” which is definitely not good enough.
The fixes:
We have already said previously that students consider mathematics as an abstract form of education. To be honest, they are not totally wrong in this consideration.
Mathematicians used to think about real life problems and come up with ways to solve such problems. But what students learn from their text books is basically a generalized version of a solution; to be more specific; these generalized versions are basically formulae. So you see why students consider this subject abstract? When they have no idea of the original real life problem, how can you expect him/her to understand the math concepts in more detail?
So we reckon you should not start off directly with formulae to explain a math concept. A certain back story (like the way an apple fell from the tree from which Newton discovered gravitation), an example from daily life like the Diagonal System of Control (DSC) etc. can solve this problem effectively.
In this technology-oriented world, it’s expected that teachers implement the use of technology in lessons.
Certain math apps and games can really make the learning experience gratifying from the student’s point of view. Students will not even realize that they are actually learning while having fun.
Teachers can introduce various math-based tactile games and puzzles to students in classes for effective math lessons. These tactile games can range from Tangrams to <Rubik’s cubes. Puzzles like Sudoku can also do the job effectively but they are more suitable for high-school students.
You can engage your students in various creative activities to ignite their passion for mathematics. Involving students in math related projects like the construction of a tactile geometrical model can serve the purpose effectively.
To sum up, we should say proper encouragement is the best way of making Math more enjoyable to a child. Encouragement inculcates the hunger of success in kids and once, they get the taste of it, they will probably try their best to taste the success again and again. With that, we’ll bring this article to a close. Hope you had a good read. Ciao!
(Image courtesy: http://goo.gl/hhNsEJ)
Sudipto writes educational content periodically for MyPrivateTutor Singapore and backs it up with extensive research and relevant examples. He's an avid reader and a tech enthusiast at the same time with a little bit of “Arsenal Football Club” thrown in as well. He's got more than 5 years of experience in digital marketing, SEO and graphic designing.
