A Better Way to Fact Fluency

Score another point for the team against plain ole memorizing multiplication facts. Number sense is where it is at!  Thanks to Jo Boaler at Stanford for another powerful paper on Fluency Without Fear. I can't tell you how many new kids to Mathnasium stare at our ceiling tiles searching for the products of their random times table drill homework.  Parents are almost more fearful of the timed tests than the kids are! Students come to us without strategies and rely solely on trying to withdraw the fact from the recesses of their mind.  Rather, we teach them to use their number sense.  When they have these structures to build their math fact database, the anxiety and fear of timed tests decreases dramatically.

Take 7x6 for my example for upper elementary friends who are still mastering their facts.  If I know 7x5 is 35 (since my 5s are easy!), then 7x6 is just one more 7. 35+7 = 42. Done. I didn't even need my ceiling tiles!  This strategy, along with decomposing numbers, where we distribute a harder fact (like 7s) into easier facts. Using the 7x6 example, I know I can bust up the 7 into a 5 and a 2. Therefore I can take (5x6) and (2x6) and combine the results. 30+12 = 42. Still 42 no matter how you slice it! Again, number sense to the rescue!

For our older students, the problem becomes the numbers extend past 12x12. Middle schoolers often are faced with 17s and 19s, numbers beyond their experience set, so decomposing numbers down to their prime factors helps with reducing fractions, finding least common multiples and greatest common factors. Having full mastery of your multiplication facts will have a dramatic impact on algebra readiness and upper level courses.

High schoolers have even higher expectations of them and need this kind of stuff to be easy so they can conserve brain power for the problem solving.

Jo Boaler is an authority in the math community. I've taken a few online courses with her through Stanford and her perspective is right on with my thinking, which of course aligns with Mathnasium, the Mathnasium Method, and has been wildly successful with Mathnasium's Numerical Fluency program with our youngest learners.  Building number sense impacts the student for the rest of their life and makes the always progressing subject of math an easier subject to understand.

Source:   http://youcubed.org/teachers/2014/fluency-without-fear/ 

Recent Math Research on Languages Makes News!

The FOX station is Orlando followed up on the recent research concerning language and its impact on young students and their ability to build number sense.

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/clip/10641033/new-math-languages

How English Impacts Math

I found this study to be very interesting.  Stereotypically, math success associated with certain nationalities, especially with Chines and Japanese students, has always been the norm.  As researched here, the language itself could be giving young students the kick start all kids need to make sense of numbers and how they work and build.

It has been recognized that the simple language parameters used by some countries limits confusion or misconceptions caused by a number's name.  What exactly does "eleven" mean?  Isn't it really just a ten and one more?  Some languages use that to set the base with the English translation simply "ten-one." It even puts the ten first (as it would be in place value) before the number in the ones place.

Much of common core, and certainly the proprietary Mathnasium curriculum, translates numbers from fifty-five to 5 tens and 5 ones so students can regroup easier, multiply easier, and more. It's called decomposing a number and it makes harder numbers and complicated processes less hard.

The biggest "take home message" I read in this is that early numerical fluency sets any kid up for success, especially as the math gets more complex.

To see the article, please visit: http://online.wsj.com/articles/the-best-language-for-math-1410304008#printMode

Teachers are Always Students

One of the things I love most about being involved in education is that you never stop being a student yourself.  Our focus at Mathnasium of 4S Ranch is always on what we can do as instructors to make math make sense to our students.

Last week I had the privilege of spending the day with Larry Martinek, the creator and Chief Educational Officer of Mathnasium.  He shared great strategies in working with Common Core and providing that extra something that makes kids feel successful every visit!

Many of his comments tied back to early numerical fluency and the roadblock it presents to further math success. This summer Mathnsium launched a program exclusive to Numerical Fluency and making those numbers come more automatically by using a strategy that slowly becomes effortless.
We also discussed the importance of students being placed in a math class appropriate to their abilities upon middle school - algebra readiness is what it is called in the education world. While we cannot make specific recommendations, much of our data collected through our diagnostic testing is sound evidence if a student is on the right path based on their skill set and if additional progress is necessary to improve classroom grades and understanding.

Larry hasn't let the substantial growth of the Mathnasium brand break his focus on why we do what we do.  Every ounce of his being is dedicated to the curriculum that he and his team create for our students. It was a great day for inspiration!

"Boring Math" Impacts Students Negatively

This New York Times article just hurts my heart. The amazing opportunities today's kids have with STEM jobs (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and their interest in them is stunted due to boredom, insecurity, lack of connection to the material, or not hearing the content in a manner that makes sense to them.

This is why Mathnasium is so focused not only on Making Math Make Sense, but it is in our DNA to get kids crazy about the subject.  We stick to the academic expectations, but make it engaging and supportive so our students flourish in the subject.  

To paraphrase the NYTimes:
"Finding ways to make math exciting for students who are in the middle of the pack could have a profound effect on their futures, providing them with the skills and enticing many who are insecure in their own abilities. But it is going to require a fundamentally different approach to teaching these subjects from childhood through high school." 

Here are a few excerpts presented in the article for ideas to begin that change:

• When students see the application of math in a real world setting
• A Flexible Curriculum: At Mathnasium, we create customized learning plans so students can receive the math tutoring help they need if they are struggling, or work with materials that provide math enrichment and challenge. We look at their abilities among concepts, so if they are strong in one and weaker in another, we work at their respective place so they are always moving forward and gaining knowledge.
• Early understanding of "Number System Knowledge" which we call Numerical Fluency at Mathnasium. Students need to know how numbers are put together and taken apart to make other numbers efficiently. This foundation sends a ripple effect into higher level math.
• Learning from individuals who are not "specialized" in their field. Mathnasium instructors focus only on math and have to pass a math literacy test plus have the educational background to support all levels of math through calculus

For the full article, click here.
Image retrieved on 12/18/13 from here.