Among the various academic subjects, maths is challenging for many students. From learners of all age groups, we often hear and see them struggling with maths lessons. The facts, figures, applications, and complex word problems make maths difficult for students and some have maths fear too. But maths is not that difficult.
Many students have wrong assumptions. To overcome this problem and make students more involved with maths, effective teaching is important. Let us discuss some tips that teachers can follow to teach maths effectively, enhance students’ maths skills, and make it more understandable and engaging for students respectively.
Tips for teachers to enhance maths skills of students
Use technology in your classroom
Sometimes understanding the mathematical topics from the textbooks becomes difficult for students. To overcome this problem using technology helps. By using online teaching apps and sites, teachers can access several audiovisual tools like educational videos, module demonstrations, tricky maths puzzles with answers, PowerPoint presentations, visual graphs, and more. With the help of visualization, students tend to understand the concepts better and quicker.
Don’t be over strict with students
Mixing up the formulas, making calculation errors, and not understanding the word problems are some of the mistakes that all students make in maths learning. Not getting accurate answers, and facing understanding issues are already hectic for students, among this if teachers are also strict and scold them for mistakes, maths becomes more challenging for students. To become an effective maths teacher, treat your students with patience. Guide students on mistakes generously, keep encouraging them to keep trying, and put in efforts to get good results gradually.
Ensure students command over basics
To enhance students’ mathematical skills, this tip is quite effective. Before moving to any complex or current topic, make sure that your students have a good command of the basics. As we say without learning alphabets and words, sentence formation is not possible, similarly, without knowing the simpler concepts, the high-level math topics cannot be understood. Therefore, teachers should keep this the basics too. For example, to teach types of fractions, first, ask your students what is a denominator and a numerator. Also,
- Listen to dodging tables up to 20. Keep oral table tests in the class frequently and ask all students.
- The basic square roots and cube roots up to 15 or 20 whole numbers must be memorized.
Take formula tests regularly
To foster the math skills of students, take formula tests regularly. Every maths lesson is applicative and full of formulas. To understand the topics and solve the related problem sums well, learning formulas properly is very important. Many formulas have a habit of delaying and procrastinating.
They try to run away from maths studies. But when tests are on their head, students tend to become more consistent with their studies. For example today the topic you taught, ask students to learn the formulas and come prepared for a quick test. This way students will self-study, understand more and do well in maths.
Take a break in between the class
Dealing with the applicative topics is difficult for students. If the maths classes are of longer durations and teachers teach continuously, students get exhausted and face concentration issues. To prevent this from happening with your students, make sure to include a break in between the class. If you have a lecture of fifty to sixty minutes, take a break in the middle of this time. Even a short break will be enough for students to re-energize themselves, and be for the further class. This helps students to receive a quality education, and participate in the class effectively throughout.
Give homework
Maths is a subject that demands dedication and effort. Only depending on classroom learning will never be enough to command mathematics. And therefore self-studies are equally important. The best way teachers can make students more into maths at home is by giving homework.
Make sure to give homework every day. This makes students more consistent and involved. But many students are reluctant to do homework. To overcome this problem, make sure that you give easy and quick work to do at home. Also, use motivational quotes for students to encourage them to do homework and enhance their academic growth.
Conclusion
Maths is an important academic subject for all the classes starting from elementary to senior secondary. By following the above-mentioned tips, teachers can teach maths effectively to students. These teaching methods will ensure that students understand properly, do well and enhance their maths skills and exam performance.
