Adam Goldberg, assistant to the dean at the Central Connecticut State University School of Education, talks about a new survey that shows math is still the least favorite subject of most students.
But here are some tips from Goldberg to keep your kids interest in math:
- Parents are often the number one reason why children dislike math. It is important to avoid relaying your negative feelings about it to your children, if you disliked math. Kids pick up on the negative attitude.
- For younger kids, teach them how to make change and then bring them to the store with a small amount of money to make a purchase. When they get home, you can reinforce how much change they received and why.
- For teens, talk about the cost of items and how long it would take to earn enough money to buy them. You can help make this real if they are earning an allowance and are interested in buying a particular item.
- For sports fans, challenge your kids to figure out a baseball player’s batting average, or a quarterback’s completion rate. You can even add hypothetical examples. (If Derek Jeter is hitting .300 with 10 hits/30 at bats, what would his average be if he gets 10 hits in his next 20 at bats?)