The way Maths is taught in school is that a skill is introduced by the teacher, it is explained, modelled, and then practiced until mastery is reached. The traditional approach to teaching Maths, where students work through a textbook and just do activity after activity is not only boring for many students but does not cater to the array of learning styles we find in our classrooms and in our students as Maths Tutors. There are many new and innovative strategies that teachers and Mathematics tutors can employ to engage and get students excited, interested and confident about Maths.
Teachers and mathematics tutors can play lots of games, puzzles and collaborative problems solving activities to engage students in learning, practicing, and mastering Mathematical concepts. This can just add variety to what students are learning so that it gives the opportunity to learn with different approaches. This ensures that you give all students a chance to connect with the concept in a way that connects with their learning style. For example, when teaching number place, you can teach the traditional way with a textbook and activities, but then give 5 numbered UNO cards to students and ask them to identify numbers in the 10 thousands, thousands, hundreds, tens and ones position.
Then ask them to rearrange the cards into the largest possible number, get them to then read it out, then right it down in words, then rearrange again to form the smallest possible number with the five cards given. Randomly ask them to tell you the number that is in the hundreds position, tens position, ten thousand position and so on. This gives a comparison between just the traditional paper, pen and textbook method, and a game related activity to engage students during a classroom lesson or Maths tutoring session.
Maths Tutoring for Younger Students
For younger students you can use picture books and read maths stories. Any story that has number facts or concepts that can be identified is useful in giving students a real-life concept and connection to the Maths being taught in the classroom or covered in a Maths tutoring session. For example, the authors Suzanne Slade has created animal-based characters in her book “The Great Divide” and covers multiplication, addition and subtraction in a fun, rhyming picture book and audio book format.
This type of method appeals to the visual and auditory learners who need to see the concept and/or hear the concept to be able to learn it.
There is a plethora of other picture books that cover Maths concepts in a fun and engaging way and demonstrate to students that Maths is applicable and useful in our everyday lives. Some of these titles include;
The Animals that could not sleep by Sara Lavine
Ten on a twig by Lo Cole
How many by Christopher Danielson
Place value by Edward Miller
This is just a small example of the possible titles available in picture book form that is appropriate for Kindy to Year 6.
Maths Tutoring for Older Students
Teachers and Maths Tutors are incredibly creative people, so engage in your own real-life experience and tell your own Maths stories. Draw on the people in your life who have careers that rely on Maths and tell their stories to show that Maths is related and needed in real life situations. Approaching Maths with creativity is key to keeping students interested. The common question, particularly in High School is, “why do I need to learn this, I’ll never need it when I leave school”. Having a response prepared before teaching or tutoring a specific topic that makes a real link connection clear between what seems an unrelated maths concept to real life is key to students making connections to the concepts being taught in class or during a Maths tutoring session
Teachers and Maths Tutors can also be creative in connecting Maths with already known characters that students are familiar with. Write questions and stories that use these characters to immediately engage students and pique their interest. This is particularly useful for High Schoolers. Find out what their favourite Netflix or Stan drama or programme is and watch an episode or two. Get to know the main characters a bit and weave them into your maths story or questions.
This helps to put a whole new spin on Maths, it helps to introduce drama and humour in what may ordinarily be quite a dry topic that students are required to learn and master.
While teaches and Maths tutors are engaging their creative side, why not consider linking Maths with visual arts. There are a whole range of skills in creative and performing arts that can be utilised in Maths. Students would work in groups to create posters to decorate the classroom with formulas and concepts that they need to rote learn or students could make an acrostic or rhyming poem to help remember formulas and concepts. Students could also act out or find creative ways to represent and apply maths through model making, songs and wrap music, along with the use of colour, shape, pattern and texture when studying geometry.
Maths Events
Some schools have even taken their creativity further by working together as a faculty or group of stage teachers to run a maths festival or Mathematics week. This is where Maths is celebrated by the school community and aims to inspire and challenge participating students. It’s designed as an unstreamed and free access learning event for all students across the school where students can discover the excitement and power of mathematics in everyday life. Through puzzles, games and guest speakers’ students engage in collaborative problems solving. This would run in the same way as book week and classes and teachers run a range of activities to acknowledge great Mathematicians. Some schools have hired a Mathematics comedian and Maths authors leading classroom-based activities.
This kind of event can also run as an extension and enrichment activity, where teachers from a range of schools, in a given area, work together to organise the Maths oriented celebration event. Identified students from the participating school come to a joint location. This gives the opportunity for high potential students to gather together. This connection amongst gifted students is vital. Research has found that gifted children achieve greater outcome when they are grouped together, so organising an event such as this specifically for Maths is a special opportunity for children with similar abilities to collaborate and problem solve together. This is also an opportunity for Maths teachers and maths tutors to be involved in inspiring students that they are working with.