If you’re like 88% of students surveyed in 2015, you’ll hate math. But it doesn’t have to be that way!
You may have awful memories from classes or exams when you were younger. But teaching has come a long way, and many math teachers are employing simple and enjoyable teaching methods to help us develop a love for math.
Here are a few to try out yourself.
Teaching a Love for Math
There are several ways of making math fun. For example:
- Make it engaging
- Relate to real situations
- Use technology
- Do math often
If you’re someone that struggles with math, try making a connection between the numbers you see and something in the real world you can imagine. It will make a huge difference to your understanding and when we understand something, we usually dislike it less.
You should also start small and make you’re way up to more complicated concepts. Don’t jump straight into advanced math because you’ll need the principles of basic math first.
One way to develop a passion for math is technology. Use technology wisely but try not to use it all the time.
Learn how to do something and use technology if you need a helping hand. Try not to rely on it for everything though.
This is a final way for how to understand math. Do more math!
Becoming familiar with something makes it less scary and easier to do. When you don’t use a skill often, your brain has to work extra hard to remember how to do it as actually doing it.
That doesn’t sound like fun at all!
Relate To Real Situations
If you have a hobby like football or baking you can apply math problems to it, to make the math feel more interesting and relevant to you. You can even take everyday situations like adding up your shopping list items or figuring out a discount in a store.
This is a great way to learn how to understand math. Starting off small, with basic concepts like addition and subtraction, fractions, and percentages.
Use Technology
Remember when your teacher said you wouldn’t always have a calculator to help you? Little did they know that we would all have calculators in our pockets one day, on our mobile phones!
Technology is a great tool, but try to figure things out for yourself, and check it with a calculator instead of reaching straight for your phone. You’ll feel great to discover you got an answer right!
You can even use technology to help you understand the math that you’re struggling with.
There are many websites that explain how things work and lots of more complicated calculators out there to help you work out and check more complex math problems. Take this ratio calculator for example!
Get Calculating!
Hope you enjoyed our tips on how to develop a love for math! We have loads of other great posts about all types of education on our website if you need help with another subject.
We also have study materials for all ages, including learning about math.
