Help your child with maths

Help Your Child with Maths

Help Your Child Feel Confident about Maths

The approaches in these resources are based on research. They will help to improve your child’s learning in any maths topic!

1. Beat Maths Anxiety

What is maths anxiety?

Maths anxiety is a negative emotional reaction to maths that makes it difficult to use existing maths skills, or to develop new ones: but there are ways to prevent it.

Tasks:

  • Watch the video to find out more.
  • Use the posters to discuss these ideas with your child.

N.B. Staff development resources on this topic are available:
- Maths: Beat Anxiety.


2. Develop a Growth Mindset

What is a growth mindset?

A growth mindset is the belief that you can get better at any skill through hard work and persistence. Research shows that having a growth mindset improves learning.

Tasks:

  • Watch the video to find out more.
  • Use the poster to discuss these ideas with your child.

N.B. Staff development resources on this topic are available:
- Maths: Develop a Growth Mindset.


3. See Mistakes as Part of Learning

How can mistakes be helpful?

Mistakes are evidence that learning is happening. They are most useful when we stop to understand what has gone wrong. ‘Showing’ your working out helps because it allows you to go back and ‘see’ your mistake.

Tasks:

  • Watch the video to find out more.
  • Use the poster to discuss these ideas with your child.

N.B. Staff development resources on this topic are available:
- Maths: Mistakes and Challenge.


4. Take on Challenges

What is the ‘learning pit’?

The ‘learning pit’ is the sometimes uncomfortable or frustrating part of the learning process that we all go through when mastering a new skill. It is this part of the process that makes the understanding (or magic) happen!

Tasks:

  • Watch the video to find out more.
  • Use the poster to discuss these ideas with your child.

N.B. Staff development resource on this topic are available:
- Maths: Mistakes and Challenge.


5. Talk About Maths

How does talking help my child to learn?

Every time you talk about, explain or listen to how someone works through a maths problem, your brain’s storage system becomes more efficient, and your understanding gets deeper.

Tasks:

  • Watch the video to find out more.
  • Use the poster to discuss these ideas with your child.

N.B. Staff development resources on this topic are available:
- Maths: Let's Talk About It.


6. Balance Understanding and Speed

Why not just memorise it?

Memorising is an important skill which can really speed up working through problems. The danger lies in memorising facts before you understand how they are arrived at. Memorising too early can restrict your child’s progress later on in learning!

Tasks:

  • Watch the video to find out more.
  • Use the poster to discuss these ideas with your child.

N.B. Staff development resources on this topic are available:
- Maths: Balance Understanding and Speed.


7. Persevere and Succeed

Why should I try this again?

When you use a concept often enough, it feels automatic. We sometimes call this the moment that the ‘penny drops’. Once this happens you have a lot of free brain capacity to take on new challenges.

Tasks:

  • Watch the video to find out more.
  • Use the poster to discuss these ideas with your child.

N.B. Staff development resources on this topic are available:
- Maths: Persevere.