The Elephant in the room

Dyscalculia: News from the web:

See the wonderful moving image from the Fibonacci Elephant by Geogebra, a great conversation starter.

Read all about it HERE

Math snacks

Dyscalculia: News from the web:

Math Snacks inspire families to find and talk about math in everyday life. These are some ideas to get started! The Development and Research in Early math education site from Stanford shares a few starters.

Read all about it HERE

A picture paints a thousand words

Dyscalculia: News from the web:

Amber Gardner reminds us that moving from concrete experiences to abstract symbols with manipulatives and pictorial representations creates learning, not just memorization.

Read all about it HERE

Great visual manipulatives

Dyscalculia: News from the web:

We have been fans of Geogebra for a while now. Today they announced a revamp of their offering of visual aids and manipulatives for math. Consider it the best alternative to working with real manipulatives for your students.

Read all about it HERE

Constructive struggle

Dyscalculia: News from the web:

Best way to teach students math is to work on their learning, their deep understanding and that is best done by having them experience finding the solution, with some guidance, themselves instead of relying on rote memorization.

The Math Medic blog says it well:

 “It would be so much easier if they would just tell us what we need to know.” One parent even said, “My child learns better when you spoon feed her.”

No, they don’t learn better, they memorize better.

What we explained to parents was the value that came with the struggle. Students develop a stronger, more long-lasting understanding when they discover the concepts on their own. What we did realize from this experience was the importance of being transparent about this process with students. It’s so important that students understand that they are supposed to struggle! And struggling does not mean that they are failing, it means that they are growing.

Read all about it HERE