How Do You Make Math Interesting?

You can say that the repair of digital equipment can be entrusted to a specialist who is “friends with mathematics” from childhood, and in order to use the devices in everyday life, it is enough to carefully study the instructions. Yes, it is. 

But mathematics not only helps in working with modern technology but also develops logical thinking. And logic is necessary for all spheres of activity, for the solution of any, even humanitarian, tasks. 

It should also be remembered that without a “mathematical mindset” young people have to choose a profession in which they can do with the simplest skills of addition/subtraction and division/multiplication – the most passable barrier in elementary school mathematics. That is, if you do not make friends with mathematics at school, then the choice of professions will be significantly limited. by using online math calculators such as cross-product calculators, matrix multiplication calculators, you can easily get help to solve math equations.

Unfortunately, only a few school graduates understand and love mathematics, while the rest declare themselves humanities in order to justify the lack of logical thinking. Today we propose to talk about the reasons that hinder the conquest of the exact sciences and hinder the development of technical progress, and also tell you how to make mathematics interesting for everyone.

Typology of Thinking – An Educational Program for Parents

In addition to a few, accidentally overheard phrases, such as “humanities” or ” creative personality “, parents of preschoolers rarely ask themselves what thinking mechanisms help a child from birth to 7 years old to assimilate 3 times more information than an adult can understand and remember during all life.

Each stage of a child’s development is an important link, including the manifestation of interest in mathematics.

Early Development

The powerful natural potential of cognition in the first years of life is not effectively spent by the child, because parents often have no idea why a talented child learned to count at 2-3 years old, but he can no longer cope with simple arithmetic problems in the second grade.

At the early preschool age (0-3 years), visual-active thinking works at the level of comparing sensations and perceptions. During this period, acquaintance with any subject means action. 

Already at 2 years old, a child can easily manipulate numbers from 0 to 10, because he sees them in front of him, and understands that 3 candies are more than one. 

Therefore, it is very important to provide a small researcher from birth to 3 years old as many objects and phenomena for study as possible, and at the same time:

• name each item;
• describe its properties;
• if possible, conduct joint experiments: the ball does not sink, sugar dissolves – everything that can be shown and explained to the baby.

The development of a child at an early age is a complex and multifaceted process, which is the basis for his further education and socialization. But it is at this age that adults most often believe that a child should only sleep, eat and walk (play). 

Unfortunately, games do not mean communication and joint play, but “just not to cry.” But, without this stage of development, one cannot count on interest in learning in principle.

Middle Preschool Age

When the program becomes more complicated, it is already difficult for a child to visualize counting, for example, 1000 candies or apples, it is difficult to imagine the composition of a three-digit number in units, tens, and hundreds. 

As a result, interest in numbers is gradually disappearing. Age characteristics also have a certain influence on the extinction of love for numbers – preschoolers and junior school children do not yet have perseverance and concentration.

The thought process involves the imagination of already familiar and studied objects. The formation of visual-figurative thinking begins, in which short-term memory works.

At this time, the investigated counting items can be visualized in the form of pictures that need to be grouped according to different criteria:

• Colour;
• the form;
• the size;
• spatial representation: close – far; high – low;
• properties: hard – soft; cold-warm;
• household use: dishes, clothes, etc.

But, simultaneously with the “inclusion” of visual-figurative thinking, the study of the surrounding world continues with the help of actions. 

The accumulated information is gradually being systematized in the form of “chains”: food is being eaten, the car is driving, and so on. Forming conceptual thinking, based on the accumulation of personal experience and judgments made by other people who have already received the new information and knowledge ready to be taken on faith.

When the child has studied the subject well, the process of forming a judgment that reveals the content of the concept begins. Judgment is an important part of developing math skills. 

On the basis of several judgments, the ratio of objects is compiled in a certain sequence – an inference arises as a form of a new judgment. This is a prerequisite for the formation of logical thinking, support for the development of mathematical abilities.

The ability creates interest since in this case the assimilation of knowledge is given with ease.

School-age

It is believed that verbal and logical thinking is inherent in older students and adults. But, as many examples show, children aged 1-1.5 years begin to speak meaningfully, and by the age of 3, they are able to master 2-3 languages. It all depends on the replenishment of the vocabulary, constant communication with the child.

What Does Math have to do with it? 

Thinking is directly related to speech, and it is speech that contributes to the formation of generalized and mediated connections, accelerates the development of abstract (figurative) and logical thinking.

When to Start Math Classes?

Adults forget that things and phenomena that are obvious to them are happening to children for the first time, and therefore arouse their interest. The manifestation of patience and wisdom is extremely necessary for “why”. 

Even if the child asks why the water is wet, one cannot dismiss the question, because this is the baby’s transition to a new level of thinking development.

Before “making a mathematician out of a child,” you need to make sure that none of the stages in the development of his thinking is overlooked. Without all the puzzles, the picture cannot be folded. 

If at some stage of early or preschool development one “puzzle” is lost, the child will not be able to understand mathematics, and it is pointless to expect interest in it. Interest in mathematics, like in other sciences, must be developed from birth.