Math Strategies

When students are learning to work with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division they require time and practice to develop the skills needed to answer questions correctly, and within a reasonable amount of time. Sometimes we think that speed is important but it is more important that students understand why their answer makes sense than that they were able to answer it quickly because they memorized it. 

For example: If your child memorized 9x9=81 but doesn't really understand that this represents 9 equal groups with 9 items in each, that math fact will only ever help them solve 9x9. If they have developed their understanding of what it "means" they can also use 9x9 to solve 18x9 because they will understand that they just have to double the product (answer) of 9x9 to find the answer to 18x9. While we want students to know their math facts it is also important that they understand them. 

The images above show the strategies that students develop as they are learning to work with numbers. You will notice that some of the strategies appear on both the addition/subtraction and the multiplication/division continuum of learning. 

Like anything in life, we don't become great without practice and experience. If you sign your child up for piano lessons you wouldn't expect them to be able to play a full song perfectly after one lesson; the same applies to math! Children need to be given lots of experiences to build their skills, little by little, so they can become great! 

They may not master every single strategy, but if they are able to use several well they are better able to solve math problems. 

During the 2023 Junior Numeracy Summer Learning Program we will be focusing on the following three strategies; familiar facts, doubling and decomposing. Over the three weeks this space will evolve to include more information about each of the three strategies being focuses on.