A child’s years spent in education are some of the most formative ones of their lives.
Curriculum
Mental math
A child’s years spent in education are some of the most formative ones of their lives.
They’re learning fundamental and transferrable skills that will help them throughout their school life, careers, social settings, and relationships. Their days in school set them up for their lives in one way or another. That’s why having a clear understanding of the curriculum is crucial. Math is one of the most important subjects a child learns throughout school. It is a compulsory subject that offers many useful skills for not only other subjects but daily life. And one of the most crucial parts of math is a topic known as mental math.
Whether you love math or you hate it, it’s everywhere. There’s no escaping it, and with the right attitude and understanding, you won’t want to. This article will explore mental math, the benefits and skills it provides to young children tackling the topic, and how someone could improve their mental math skills should they need to.
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The importance of math as a subject
Firstly, it’s important to discuss math as a whole. Math is one of the fundamental lessons taught at schools worldwide as a curriculum foundation. Whether you are a fan or not, math is inescapable. We do calculations all the time in our day-to-day lives without even realizing it. Adding up prices in our heads as we do our grocery shopping to gauge the total. Working out what time we need to set off before beginning a journey so we can get from A to B on schedule. Counting out our loose change to pay a bill. Math is so implemented into our brains that we often don’t realize we’re doing it. It’s almost like instinct. But we weren’t born like that.
Our ability to do the basic skills necessary to go about our day-to-day lives dates back to our times at school. Sitting in math class wondering when we’ll ever use what’s on the board. The answer is every day. That’s why math is such an important subject for our children to learn, to give them the tools they need to build whatever life they wish.
What is mental math
A lot of the math we do daily tends to occur in our heads. That’s why we want to explore mental math. What is it? Mental math is a group of skills and understanding that allows a person to do math “in their head”. It means no pencil and paper and no calculator. Math understanding, problems, and calculations are solved purely in your head. Mental math requires good memory skills. It also requires skills such as rounding numbers and estimating calculations. It is concerned less with more complex math understanding, such as algebra, and relates more to a basic understanding of math that can allow you to use a concept and apply it to a real-life situation.
Due to our understanding of when math is most commonly used past school life, we know that mental math is beneficial in everyday life; however, it is also useful in school as it can help kids to understand math concepts better as well as get to the answer faster which is a convenient skill, especially on tests when there is a time limit.
Benefits of mental math
There are many benefits of mental math as it is a skill that spurs other skills. For example, it can help kids understand math concepts better. Using and practicing mental math regularly will likely help kids improve their number sense. As it tends to focus on basic math skills, they will strengthen their understanding by constantly utilizing these in their minds. It is essentially constant practice of the foundations they will need to grasp more concepts. This understanding will help them progress and use these skills in more complex scenarios.
Another benefit is that mental math keeps brains quick and sharp. This practice of on-the-spot thinking is a useful transferable skill that could be applied in many other scenarios. Thinking on your feet at a quicker speed can help solve an unforeseen problem, which could be a conflict amongst colleagues or a change of plan that will make you refigure your schedule, for example. The brain, like the muscles of your body, gets stronger and more efficient with use. So think of mental math as a workout for your brain. We need to stay active, and our brains also need to do so.
Mental math also helps improve your memory skills. Metal math tends to rely on a person’s ability to remember math concepts. It requires good memory skills, but with practice, it can also better them. It could strengthen your ability to remember things and apply them as necessary, which is a great skill to have and is very useful across other subjects. Whether remembering historical dates, quotes from literature or the process of a science practical, memory is one of the most important aspects of school, especially for tests.
Ways to improve your mental math skills
If a kid is struggling with mental math, it has nothing to do with their intellect. Mental math is a skill, and skills require practice to improve. Kids develop math skills at their own pace, and difficulty with mental math could mean nothing more than needing more time to practice and work on it.
However, if a kid is frustrated by mental math, there are exercises they can try to improve their skills. These are easy to do and should show a noticeable change.
They are listed below:
Use flashcards – the repetition helps with memory. Number bond practice game – ask them to think of all the addition combinations they can that make 10 and then increase with confidence. This will help them to grasp number bonds. Use a math website – there are many free math sites available online that provide fun math games for a child to do in their free time. Develop their logical thinking – incorporate math and real-life problems. For example, when baking, ask them to double each ingredient by two. They could also try different strategies to improve their mental math approach.
Some of these are listed below with examples:
- Splitting into hundreds, tens, units – 541 + 235 -> 500 + 200 = 700, 40 + 30 = 70, and 1 = 5 = 6. Put them back together to make 776.
- Rounding numbers for easier calculations – 58 + 65 -> 60 + 70 = 130. You rounded by 2 and 5, which, added together, is 7, so take 7 from 130 = 123.
- Flip around the question – 21 – 18 -> __ + 18 = 21.
Mental math is a crucial part of life and education. This guide should outline the importance of alternative approaches to help struggling children.
