A greater role in math education for parents: mathematical reasoning at home

Katie Kormanik:

While policymakers, researchers and educators decide how our children learn math, parents don't seem to be anywhere in the mix. Yet parents can and should play a greater role in their children's math education. The problem is that most parents simply don't know how. This situation is complicated by the fact that many parents struggled with math themselves, making it more difficult for them to help their children and often resulting in their inadvertently passing on their own math phobia.

One of the best things parents can do to improve their children's math literacy is to regularly expose them to practical applications of math at home. This is not "teaching," per se, as much as it is helping them develop mathematical reasoning on their own. What students observe, discover and learn outside the classroom can often benefit them more than what they learn in class. The former tends to be practical and applicable in real situations outside academia; the latter often focuses on the theoretical and the abstract. Parents can help merge these two realms.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at January 7, 2013 1:45 AM
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