Why Kids Should Use Their Fingers in Math

As we first begin to teach children to count we often show them on our fingers, they are one of the most readily available visual aids that we have. As children get older we start to discourage them to count on their fingers but we may be halting their development of their brain networks. A professor at Stanford, Jo Boaler, believes that there are neurological benefits to using ones fingers to count that can contribute to advanced thinking in higher math. He says that finger perception could be the reason that pianists and other musicians often display higher mathematical understanding.

Boaler has a class at Stanford that “supports a more engaging way to teach math by applying visual thinking, numeracy and growth mindset”. Her way of teaching us used to help both students and teachers get past roadblocks to learning math. Boaler believes that math should not only be taught visually in the classroom from the kindergarten age through eight grade but also beyond that and into the more abstract ideas. 

https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/04/13/why-kids-should-keep-using-theirs-fingers-to-do-math/?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20160417