What We Need to Know

What Parents Can Do

Today's emphasis is on problem solving and understanding mathematical processes, necessitating a strong background in number facts.

Many primary school maths lessons require children to use objects - concrete materials - in this way they discover the connection between mathematical concepts and the calculations people need to make in the real world.

In today's schools, the emphasis is on maths programs tailored to the needs of individual children.

Children do still learn 'tables'. There is a need for the instant recall of multiplication facts, but the emphasis is on understanding and practising these calculations in real life situations.

Today the best teaching strives to develop in children a love of mathematical inquiry and a mastery of the ordered process of reasoning that this inquiry demands.

 

Show your regard for the practical usefulness of maths - and never say to your child, 'You're just like me, I was never any good at maths!'

Try to develop your child's sense of number, size, length, height, width, volume, area, mass/weight, and time..Find maths everywhere!

Involve your child in real-life calculating around the home - counting change, adding up bills, measuring, estimating, and so on.

Encourage older children to take up hobbies that require 'hands on' mathematical skills and a sense of spatial relationships - making models, assembling kits....

Have a calculator in the house and introduce games that lead to the discovery of some of the fascinating properties of number. 
 

Ask your school principal to organise an evening at which modern school approaches to maths are explained to parents.

DON'T think mathematics is either a mystery or a textbook exercise; it is about solving problems in the real world.

So pursue this BASIC QUESTION: 'Am I seizing every opportunity to use maths around the home, certainly in play, but also in real situations, measuring and calculating whenever a need arises?'