Proportional thinking is sometimes called proportional reasoning. Proportional thinking means thinking about multiplicative relationships. It involves being able to describe the precise relationship, or change, between different values. Here are 2 examples of proportional relationships.
1) 100 miles per hour is equal to 25 miles per 15 minutes and twice as fast as 50 miles per hour.
2) Increasing from 4 to 8 is proportionately bigger (100% increase) than an increase from 8 to 12 (50% increase), even though the difference between them both is 4.
Proportional Thinking has many “Real Life” Applications
Proportional reasoning is needed to create art and play music, to measure change in scientific experiments, to alter recipes, to build something to scale, and to perform many other day-to-day activities. A consumer skilled in proportional thinking can determine whether to buy a 64 oz. bag of dog food for $10 or a 72 oz. bag for $12. The 64 oz. bag costs $1 per 6.4 oz., whereas the 72 oz. bag costs $1 per 6 oz. so the 64 oz bag is a better deal.
Young children don’t think proportionately naturally. If you want to pay small children for chores, use pennies. They will think ten pennies is better than 1 quarter. But if you don’t want kids to be fooled with that logic past kindergarten, proportional thinking must be developed.
Proportional thinking is often covered as a “unit” in math, but Mathnasium considers it a “fundamental” or foundational skill.
As a foundational skill, proportional thinking is woven into our curriculum from our most basic math concepts to the more advanced concepts. We give them plenty of opportunities to experiment with proportional thinking and develop confidence in this area.
Children who have not yet developed proportional thinking often struggle with the following concepts and strands:
If your child struggles in any of these areas, call us to schedule a no-risk, comprehensive assessment.
(303) 840-1184
This article was written by and owned by Cuttlefish Copywriting. It is copyright protected. Parker Mathnasium has permission to use it. Other Mathnasium locations should contact Heather at [email protected] before using it.
