A highschooler was dragged into our centre by her mom, because she needed help with math. The student was reluctant due to her future aspirations in becoming a psychologist, she felt like she didn’t need to improve her math. When we explained that learning math will help develop her critical thinking, which is essential for becoming a psychologist, her response was like ‘yeah yeah whatever’ (she wasn’t rolling her eyes but I was sure that that was what she intended to do) 😊
We started running this math learning centre because we loved kids, we’re really into education, and we’re comfortable with math. In our previous careers, we used math and its “by-products” a lot. What do we mean by “by-products”? The result of learning math is not just to make you skilled in computation, but deeper than that it also helps you develop intellectual skills in problem-solving, deductive & inductive reasoning, and creative thinking. So math is not just important for engineers or mathematicians or accountants, but for all professions.
Take for example a Human Resources professional job. Critical thinking is important to develop a job description, otherwise your job description would look like a laundry list and very task oriented. Creating an organizational structure without analyzing properly the common nature and expected result of each department will create inefficiency and mismanagement. Conducting job evaluation requires the ability to balance art and science to properly evaluate the job scope and conduct accurate market analysis.
Yes, math helps us have better problem-solving skills – it helps us identifying the knowns and unknowns, and taking steps to solve problems.
So it couldn’t be farther from the truth that math has no real use in life and we just need math for STEM careers. In fact, studies have found that mathematical ability predict career success. “For both males and females, mathematical precocity in early life predicts later creative contributions and leadership in critical occupational roles”, according to Researchers at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College.
Start Early
Math learning can help your child develop their intellectual skills. But what type of learning? Beware of rote math teaching that “drills & kills” – if that doesn’t kill your child’s interest in math, it might teach them to become a procedural oriented type of student, as opposed having a creative and a strong number sense mind.
There’s nothing too early when teaching kids to learn math. At the Canada Day celebration at Bower Ponds two weeks ago, I was asked out of the blue in front of a camera, “Do you agree that math is a language?” and I answered without a doubt, “Of course. Just like language ability, the earlier you learn math, the more fluent you’re gonna be”. Researchers found that students in Pre-K with a broader range of math knowledge were more likely to show higher achievement as they moved through grades. Early math is just as important as early reading. And even a researcher from the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences suggests that early math skills are a better predictor of academic success than early reading skills.
So, after learning that good at math will open doors and lead to unlimited possibilities, let’s make math a priority in your child’s learning journey!
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Mathnasium of Red Deer is your neighbourhood’s math-only learning centre, and we are here to unlock your child’s potential and set them on a path to lifetime success. Our centre director, Riwan, and the whole team, would be happy to meet you! We are conveniently located in the shopping destination area in Red Deer: 5250 22nd St, Unit 30 B – at the Gaetz Avenue Crossing shopping centre, in the same area as Chapters Indigo/Starbucks, Michael Arts, Petland and Ashley, and the phone number is 403-872 MATH (6284).
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