“Parents affect kids’ attitude to maths”, says Maths Professor
PARENTS who reckon they are no good at maths should stop bragging about it to their kids, an education expert warns.
When adults shrug off their own poor maths ability, they are affecting children’s attitudes to the subject, said mathematics education professor, Di Siemon.
“No one accepts that it’s okay to say ‘I can’t read’, but they do think it’s okay to say ‘I was never any good at maths’, which of course is not okay,” she said.
That attitude simply legitimised failure in the subject in the child’s eyes.
“It’s establishing that a very significant person in your life is saying it didn’t work for them and that is okay. But it’s not okay.”
I was really keen to start my first blog with reference to an article that summarizes my thoughts about maths for small children. When I mention to friends and family that I am beginning a business that helps lay the basic foundation maths concepts, a common response is “I am really bad at maths” and “do you think anyone will want to come and hear your presentations because most people are scared of maths?”
If the article heading were “Parents affect kid’s attitude to literacy”, there would be very little interest in the story – just confirmation of well-known common-sense advice. There has been widespread education of the value of reading to children. Reading a nightly bed-time story book with little children certainly conveys the message that reading and literacy is valued.
By providing parents, carers and grandparents some guidance, information and practical ideas of incorporating maths into the daily lives of our little people I am hopeful that positive attitudes will be built. In addition to the nightly story-time ritual, wouldn’t it be wonderful if some counting, matching, sorting or patterning ideas were included?
Combining both literacy and numeracy by reading a book that has maths concepts imbedded is a really good idea. The excellent ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle has counting, size, time and sequencing all included in the one story!
Now, that is an idea for my next blog …
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