Helping Students Build Math Confidence

A common refrain I hear from parents is that their child lacks confidence when it comes to math.  As a math tutor, it's important to help students become more confident. Interestingly, this lack of confidence is as common with B students as it is with those struggling to pass.  A reason why students lack confidence is that the teaching focus is often around the computation process without an explanation of the meaning behind a math concept.  For example, the concept of percent is often taught as 7% means 7 over 100.  At Mathnasium of Stillwater, we explain how the word percent can be broken down to “per” which means “for each” and “cent” as in 100 cents in a dollar or 100 years in a century.  So, 7% is not just 7 over 100, but can also be explained as 7 for each 100.

Let's try applying the concept of percent to a problem, such as 6.5% of 250 using both approaches.

Problem: What is 6.5% of 250?

Approach 1 - Computational

6.5 / 100 x 250 = 1,625 / 100 =16.25

• Double Digit Multiplication
• Multiplication with Decimals
• Double Digit Division

Not easily done mentally and prone to careless computation error when done by paper & pencil or calculator.

Confidence Level:  Low, due to proneness to keypunch error on calculator or computation error on paper.

Approach 2 - Mental Math

  6.5   (for the first 100)

+ 6.5   (for the second 100)

+ 3.25 (half of 6.5 for last 50)

= 16.25

Math Concepts Required:

• Single Digit Addition
• Addition with Decimals
• Dividing in Half

Easily done in head without needing paper & pencil or a calculator.

Confidence Level: High, based on sound understanding of math concept and simplicity of computations.

At Mathnasium of Stillwater, we build confidence in students by first grounding them in a base understanding of the math concepts and developing number sense through mental math.  We then practice the computational approach until mastery of a particular math concept has been demonstrated, resulting in proficiency with confidence.

To learn more about math tutoring, visit http://www.mathnasium.com/stillwater