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Help
for Teachers and Parents
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“Mathematics
is a language. It is a second language
for
most children and for some it might even
be a third or a fourth language. Numeric
and other operational symbols
are like
letters; sums and other arithmetic facts are
its words. Equations and other
mathematical expressions
are the sentences of
this language. Proficiency in this
language, its acquisition, its understanding,
and its use
are the demands of a technological
society. |
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The
development of children’s mathematical
understanding is dependent upon these key
concepts:
Helping
children to master these key concepts should
be the major objective of a numeracy programme.
Although most children acquire these easily at
the appropriate age level, a significant
number of children have difficulty in
mastering the simplest of number facts.
In
the first video / DVD, the emphasis is on helping
children to master number facts, because once
a child has conceptualised number and mastered
arithmetic
facts, he/she is on the way to
building a solid foundation for numeracy.
Children who have not mastered the
number relationships face considerable
difficulties later with mathematics and
related subjects.
The
instructional materials, structured activities
and questioning techniques
used
demonstrate how to teach addition,
subtraction, multiplication and
division facts
and procedures.
The task of learning facts and tables,
considered difficult by many teachers and
parents, becomes relatively simple. This
approach has been used successfully with
thousands of children, including older
children who have not acquired the concepts at
the appropriate age due
to dyslexia,
dyscalculia, specific learning disabilities or
poor teaching.
Mahesh
Sharma
is the Director of the Center for
Teaching/Learning of Mathematics.
He edits Focus on Learning Problems in
Mathematics, an international and
interdisciplinary journal dealing with the
learning and teaching of
mathematics, in particular with issues dealing
with learning problems
in mathematics such as: dyscalculia, acalculia,
mathematics anxiety
and specific learning disabilities in
mathematics.
He also writes Math Notebook, a newsletter for
teachers and parents.
His
Center for Teaching and Learning of
Mathematics is affiliated to
Berkshire
Mathematics in the U.K.
run by Patricia Brazil.
She organises Prof. Sharma’s lectures and
courses, and produces videos / DVDs, which are for
sale along with the U.S.
publications.
Tel:
0118 947 4864
Email: info@berkshiremathematics.com
©
Mahesh Sharma/Patricia Brazil,
Berkshire
Mathematics 1999.
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