There are many books and research papers on this issue. Maths anxiety lowers motivation more often than it enhances it. You could argue that quick retrieval reduces the load on the working memory needed to do, for example, mental arithmetic, but substantial research tells us that anxiety about having to answer quickly reduces working memory capacity. (There are 608 Pins on math multiplication which suggests that there is no one way that works for everyone, but 608 for 121 facts is, maybe, excessive). That leaves no time for counting the way up to the answer from 2x, 3x, 4x etc - the answer has to pop out of memory pretty much instantly.’įrom Pinterest there is a scheme that is: ‘Designed for high speed so that you get lots of practice.’ (From a UK maths website quoting a Headteacher) ‘Children need to be able to recall any times tables answer within two or three seconds - preferably in one second. Let’s start with a factor that demotivates many learners, speed of retrieving these facts (and often the general pressure to do any maths quickly). A selection from the very many resources and comments on the web about learning the times table facts. I wrote my first book about this in 1996, ‘What to do when you can’t learn the times tables.’ I don’t think it has, as yet, successfully challenged the entrenched belief in rote. The most worrying belief is that rote is THE way to deal with these facts. So that was the start of my journey (got to have a journey) to find better ways of dealing with these facts and then to attempt to break down the beliefs that are so pervasive in maths education around this small collection of facts. Our student population is heterogeneous and mathematical competence is a constellation of abilities. In fact, very few strategies qualify for ‘always’ in learning. ![]() Rote learning is not always the best strategy for teaching maths. I include mental arithmetic, unless empathetically delivered, in this category. Never start lessons with something a significant percentage of your students cannot do. That image remains with me forty years later. Fortuitously, my teacher training had given me some basic awareness of non-verbal behaviours and I recognised this as a sign of stress. The only, slight, exoneration I give myself is that I didn’t get them singing the facts to some inane tune.Īt the end of the week, when I once again said in that happy, positive voice we teachers sometimes use, ‘It’s times table time again!’ One of my students got up from his desk and banged his head against the wall. In my ignorance and in my belief that I could deal with this swiftly, we chanted times table facts at the start of every maths lesson. (I later came to learn that this was an extremely common situation.) It didn’t take me long to find out that they did not ‘know’ their times tables, well not beyond the 2x, 5x, 10x and 1x facts. My ignorance was not bliss for long, certainly not for my students. Nobody warned me that some might have co-occurring difficulties with maths. Back then you could find books and programmes for teaching language to dyslexics. ![]() ![]() I met my class of twelve, very dyslexic 13-year olds as their new maths teacher. Straight out of 14 years of mainstream teaching, primarily physics, but some chemistry and maths as well, I became Head of a school for dyslexics. The role of developmental, conceptual teaching. A critical look at some of the comments and ideas for interventions from a wide variety of sources. A look back over some 40 years of experience with teaching, writing, teacher training around the world and researching into difficulties in learning basic maths. I have written the article in three parts. My agenda in this article is to challenge the widespread culture and beliefs that have such a powerful influence on teaching early maths, using times table facts as an illustration and drawing in my experience working with the outliers, the pupils who struggle with learning maths. Conceptual Learning - an example using times tables
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