Imagine or watch a baby making sounds, blowing bubbles, cooing and babbling. Imagine the mom cooing and babbling back to the baby and encouraging the sound production. The baby is exploring sounds and it is an important step to learning how to talk.
Did you know that exploration is an essential part of the learning process of math, just as it is for talking, reading, and walking? Math exploration is vital for learning to think critically and use mathematical reasoning. It ignites curiosity and builds new neural pathways. And it's FUN!
Math exploration is important for all ages and stages, including adults. If you explore math with your children …you might both realize how much fun math can be!
Introducing Math Exploration
When you read a bedtime story to your child you might say, “Let’s read Little Red Riding Hood,” not “Today we are going to learn the structural elements of a morality tale.” The same idea goes for starting a math exploration activity. Don’t think of it as a lesson with a specific learning objective. Say something like “Let’s see if we can figure out how tall the tree is by measuring the shadow” not “Today we are going to learn the elements of triangulation.”
When to Explore Math
Think of exploring math like play. It should be fun and free from stress. Set aside time for math exploration just like you would for taking your child to the pool or reading together. If your child needs to learn a particular skill, such as multiplying fractions, they need a directed lesson. Summer is a great time for math exploration because children are free from many of the pressures and stresses of the classroom such as grades and homework.
How to Explore with Math
Divergent learning activities are great for exploring various math concepts. When exploring math, your child will try different methods and go down paths leading nowhere. Try not to intervene too much to guide them to the “correct” way of doing things. The goal is to engage the child to start asking mathematical questions and using logic. Remember the baby babbling. The babbling may not sound meaningful at first, but the baby is learning. Math exploration may not look meaningful at first, but the child is learning.
At Mathnasium of Parker, we give short periods of time for math exploration along with plenty of direct instruction. Both are important aspects of learning math.
Read these articles for more ideas for math exploration.
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