I was recently asked by one of my new friends, who is also one of our onSponge parents, how can she improve her problem solving skills with the aim of assisting her son in solving math problem sums. Sound familiar? So rather than demand a night on the town with a free flow of drinks in return for my wisdom, I decided to share my "Seven Secrets to Problem Sums" for Parents here instead. But first, more on the issue ....My new friend went on to share her frustration because she was struggling with her son, in mathematics, as he does not seem to understand despite her explanations. This compounded with the problem that, like me, she was from the "old era" where we had algebra, algebra and amazingly more algebra in our tool kit to solve everything that was thrown our way. Of course, our biggest problem was, what to do when there were no more letters left to create another equation.
Looking back, imagine what we could have done with all of the methods of today at our disposal. Perhaps I could have been the first ang moh prime minister in Singapore! Maybe I could have used the units method to work out that I could eat more apples per day than my dad. You see I had an apple orchard less than, the model method, five minutes away from my house traveling at 60Kmph. Of course if my cousin left her house at the same time, at a speed of 90Kmph, we would meet at the apple orchard at the same time, the gap & difference method, in which case we could devour more apples in the same amount of time - ratios. This would have certainly proven more beneficial than wasting two thirds of my day, fractions, under the hot sun with a clear blue sky, biting into a fresh juicy red apple. Seriously however, I was fortunate enough to be taught a form of the branch method and perhaps an early generation of models whereby we used drawings much like prehistoric chicken scratches found in caves. While not quite models, they still allowed me to have a visual representation of the problem.
So back to my friend's question or rather the "Seven Secrets to Problem Sums for Parents" ....
1) Do what you are doing now. Recognise the importance of getting involved with your child's learning. As parents we cannot leave teaching to the teachers and/or tutors. As parents, we should act of knowledgeable facilitators. The problem sums being asked in the schools are difficult. They use concepts that are foreign to the child's everyday life experience and thought process. Given our own experience we can relate to the context being described.
2) Spend time with your child working through the problems. This goes beyond ensuring the child does his/her homework but rather work on problems together. Not only does this help you understand the problems and solutions our kids are being exposed to, it provides an amazing opportunity to bond with our kids. Many other parents would have taken the same time to learn more about what's on AXN or StarTV instead. As an example, when it came to this year's SA1 test - I completed each SA1 test that my daughter did. Then we compared our answers against each others and also the "preferred" solution provided.
3) Practice makes perfect. Stealing a quote from Being a Happy Teenager by Andrew Matthews, "You reap your harvest after you do the work ... Effort + patience = results." When you have a spare moment use it. Start from the beginning, P3 and work your way up to P6 where algebra is introduced. Even if you do not get all the way through to the end of P6, you will be exposing yourself to a large percentage of the methods being taught in the schools. Success is the sum of doing many small things as well as you can consistently and repeatedly. There is no one big step to success.
4) We learn best when we explain to others. Therefore, attempt to answer some questions in the forum. Given your answers are in public view, you will spend a little more effort to ensure that your solution is clearly understood. This practice will assist you in helping your child more effectively.
5) Read the questions carefully. This quality is difficult for our kids to master and tends to cause much of the stress our kids have. For example, when I marked my daughter's practice math SA1 tests, I noticed 70% or more of her mistakes are a result of reading errors. The task of breaking down a problem sum question into a number of simpler steps is a fundamental skill to acquire regardless of the maths concept required to apply.
6) Use the methods you have been taught, probably algebra, to check your answers and/or to get an answer and then work backwards using the 'preferred' or alternative methods. This comparative approach will help to thoroughly understand the concepts and at the same time build up your own confidence.
7) Plug Plug Plug. Attend workshops specifically designed for parents. Soon, onSponge will be announcing a workshop for parents with the objective of teaching [the parents] a number of the methods our kids are being exposed to.
Of course the above is not an official Seven Secrets, just my thoughts. Perhaps we here at onSponge should create a real set of Seven Secrets ...
.I know I have a lot to do later on. I am looking forward to the Onsponge parent's workshop as I am very keen to learn more. I have enrolled my son in the 1 day workshop as well. Another challenge that I faced is how to motivate my son to enjoy doing Mathematics as he does not seem to like Math as well as gaining the confidence. Probably due to many failures that he faced in solving problem sums in P5. He gives up easily thus as parents, we need to be very patient and keep encouraging him.
Since it is much easier to solve problem sums using Algebra, do you think it is a correct to expose Primary school kids to Algebra at this age. I came across another training center where they teach Pr school kids how to solve problem sums using Algebra instead of modelling method. The program is developed by some professional and they say that the steps are acceptable by MOE in PSLE. What is your view on this ?
Keeping the kids motivated is challenging, requires different approaches for each child and changes for each child over time. Using my daughter as an example, now in P4, Math was her favourite subject last year - she came home with a smile from ear to ear when she learned she had the highest mark. She went into P4 with extreme confidence, until her first mock exam - disaster. Then it became her most hated subject. No more confidence and forget about motivation. What could be wrong? Why from top to, I dare not say bottom? What changed? Why no motivation? Lack of confidence I could understand.
We sent her to a tuition centre, but that didn't seem to help. In fact, she didn't even bother with the lessons. Cutting this short, her environment changed - I started the onSponge business and my wife started working from the office instead of home like she did for the previous 3 years. So in the end, we needed to find an environment that was going to motivate her.
Now, I no longer teach her, I coach her. I no longer give her work then checked on the results. Instead we do test papers together and we arrive at solutions together. Our time is very focused increasing the quality of coaching and also allowing for more play time to help with the motivation (also giving me time for work). However, the play time includes learning. For example, yesterday while driving for lunch we played word association games using the science materials from the digestive system, light and matter. Practice exams are now competitions between us - she gets 1 hour instead of the 1:45 min time allocated in school and I get 30 minutes. The oven timer is set so we have an audible warning which adds to the competitiveness. Her time is 1 hour not 1:45 so that she learns to work faster and pace herself better therefore during the real exam she will be able to manage her stress better. She is also reading and contributing to onSponge by looking at the questions in the forum and writing simple stories, to be published later, and feels more apart of "the action".
But there was still the confidence issue. She marked her first practice SA1 exam. I could see the tears in her eyes - she got 54%. She dreads the thought of dropping down one class in school (of course there is no more streaming - yeah right!). So rather than going through the mistakes with her and giving her a new test, we identified the problems together: carelessness, particular question types, steps to approaching problems sums, etc. We built our own methodology together to tackle her problems: Highlight, breakdown, draw, and ensure legibility. Now for each question she does all four things because most of her problems were either taking short cuts and then making careless mistakes; or not truly understanding the wording of the question resulting in an incorrect approach.
In addition, to assist with confidence, I do not always go from one SA1 test to another. Sometimes she repeats the same SA1 test 2 or 3 times. By doing this she starts to recognise the questions, remembering the solutions; can complete the question faster; and most importantly she sees the results getting better. For example, for the 54% question she got 77% the 2nd time, 89% the 3rd time. Similarly we did another test twice, the first time she got around 80% and the 2nd time she got 94%. This approach builds her confidence tremendously which of course helps with the motivation and so on in a loop. Also it demonstrates, to her, that she does understand and that her mistakes are careless therefore she should not get too stressed about it.
Finally, to respond to your comment about algebra ... I do not think it is correct to expose Primary school kids to the questions they get. While their mental ability may be capable handle the questions, is it necessary to put the pressure on them so early? Of course this doesn't address your question ....
So while they are given the questions, I feel if the child can understand other methods, say algebra, let them use it. The more resources they can have in their tool kit the better - assuming they understand how to apply them. Furthermore, I feel it is unfair for the kids that some schools use only models while other schools introduce other solutions. This will only result in an unfair situation on the PSLE where those kids exposed to other solutions will have an unfair advantage.
There is some caution needed, however, as I have heard that not all teachers are flexible enough to support different methods. They may not mark it wrong when the answer is correct but when the answer is incorrect they are not given part marks as easily for the correct approach. I am not aware of any specific incident though. Also, note some questions will say solve using the xyz method as the teacher is testing the child's understanding of the method not the specific question. So I think the child needs to understand the basic method first and then they can be equipped with alternative approaches to handle the more complicated questions they will find on the PSLE.
I hope this wasn't tooooo long winded
this is my first time visiting on Sponge and it's for my daughter in P3.
Her school is using onsponge as supplement for the kids.
However, the teacher not explaning the question/solution well, she also not explaining clearly what she want. During the class, she only used the example given (which I think is easy) and then expect the kids to do other questions by themselves.
Like one of the sentence you said, some teachers are not flexible to let the kids use other solution/method. BY restricting the kids and no proper explanation, I am very concern this will make them hate Maths (especially my daughter keep complaining this teacher is very fierce).
What prove that ? The teacher stopped the whole class from recess but to "copy" her answer and do other questions follow that way.
Today, I had helped her to solve section 1.7, questions 5 - 8. In order to able to submit her work tomorrow, I told her to follow my solution and submit.
Onsponge is a good supplement but the school must use it in the right way.
But I like what you have suggested, keep doing the same problem sum again and again, let the kids recongnize the mistake / problem, after a few times they will finally got it !
thank you for your time.
Firstly, I am very sorry for the delayed response - for some reason I have missed your comment. I do understand your concerns. This is something as a parent, my girl now in P5, I experience. My daughter's school does not use onSponge nor provide alternative methods. It's model, model and more model. And seeing her now thrive on the +hinkingMath strategies I have no doubt the effort put in at home has paid off. Her confidence is booming, her results are good, and most importantly she enjoys it. She asks me for additional work and sits in on the classes I teach even though she knows the work already. That said, with relation to her school work, I am extra careful to review all homework especially those solutions she provides that are "out of the norm” as compared to those taught in her school.
With your daughter’s school, it’s difficult to comment as I am not privy to the situation. That’s said it is normal to receive different experiences from different teachers/tutors and even the two parents. At this point I can really only suggest that if your daughter continues to have problems that you sit down with the teacher to discuss your concerns and/or seek addition support (which could be from home).
At onSponge we have been working with a number of schools to help teachers with less exposure, to the +hinkingMath strategies, so they are better equipped to coach the kids. In addition, we have been offering parents talks through the schools and/or externally, workshops coaching, etc. If you are active in the PSG, perhaps this is something you could be raising?
Also, to help, we [onSponge] are trying to provide you with more support through the forum, parent's workshops and in the near future other resources designed by parents just for you – a parent.
Pls don't be shy, scream out and seek help - your girl is in P3 so you both have a long way to go
The path ahead is not so foggy when we travel together ..... 