Using Printable Math Worksheets
>> Tuesday, January 25, 2011
printable math worksheets, an old-style teaching tool!The Cause
Printable math worksheets can be used by both parents and teachers to help kids overcome some of their most common problems in leaning math.
You see, I'm a professional educator. I teach high school. I'm also a parent. (I wear both hats!) Year after year, I see kids come into my classes completely unprepared to learn math.
Download Exam Drill of Math for Vocational School
When I diagnose what the problem is, it's virtually always either they don't know their multiplication tables or, more often, they don't know how to work with fractions.
I teach the upper grades in my school, yet I continue to see kids who do not even have basic algebra skills in place.
As a parent, I'm very aware of what my own children are learning in school. For the most part, I've been happy with their progress, but as they rise in grade level, I'm starting to see more emphasis on a loose understanding of the concepts and less emphasis on skills--particularly skills with arithmetic of fractions.
The main problem with what I see with my students and my own children is that kids are taught "concepts" and are not taught skills--unless they're lucky enough to have a teacher who knows better.
Most particularly, children are not taught mastery of arithmetic with fractions. Unfortunately, virtually all of their future math education depends on being able to do fractional arithmetic.
Most of even beginning algebra depends on being able to do two things--one, doing multiplication quickly and accurately in your head, two, knowing how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions.
You might remember a concept in algebra called "factoring." Factoring means breaking up into parts that are multiplied together to give you the whole. You can factor numbers. For instance, 6 factors into 2 and 3--2x3 =6. In elementary algebra we learn to factor expressions such as x^2+4x+4. This particular expression is easily factorable into (x+2)^2.
Just trust me, if you don't know your multiplication tables, you can't factor. If you can't factor, you won't do well at all in algebra, geometry, or trigonometry.
The same is true for mastery of working with fractions.
So, in general, kids who don't learn their multiplication tables and arithmetic with fractions usually don't do well in math. It's been proven that success in science depends to a great extent on success in math. So, these same kids usually don't do well with science, either.
If you want your child to have access to the major portion of jobs in the future, your child must master math. The Solution...or at least part of it
Teachers are actually doing their best to educate children. The problems with education aren't so much on the level of teachers as with the institution as a whole. It's kind of like the state of communications in our country before the deregulation of the telephone companies. Before deregulation, one and only one advancement--the touch tone phone. After deregulation, well you have cell phones, the Internet, instant messaging, you name it!
What dedicated teachers and parents need to do is to supplement public school instruction with strategies that work, that have always worked, to get kids to really master the fundamental skills of elementary math.
One of the most effective ways I've found to help kids in a focused area of weakness are printable math worksheets. The big problem with concept-based instruction is lack of practice. Printable math worksheets solve this problem nicely.
As a teacher, I supplement my lessons with appropriate worksheets. I can then check a student's progress. For parents, printable math worksheets are a great tool for drilling their own kids in those same skills.
Make no mistake, printable math worksheets are not a relic from the past that needs to stay buried. They are useful, focused tools for the classroom or at home.
You can find resources all over the web for worksheets. Finding answers for worksheets, however, is not that easy.
For that you often have to use paid subscription services.
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