Working together

There are lots of ways of working at maths. One is to do it on your own, in silence; another is to do it as a member of a group, with discussion; one is to do it against the clock; another is to solve open ended problems over an extended period of time; one is to listen to another tell how it should be done; another is to work out for oneself how it might be done. There is a huge variety of different ways in which maths can be learnt, and variety is the spice of life. So often in maths classes in school pupils are required to listen to the teacher and then repeat the procedure he has demonstrated in silence working alone. No wonder pupils become bored and dislike maths. At Puppet Maths, because we are remote from the place where our pupils work, we do not control the environment in which they study, or how they study, but we would ask parents and guardians of our pupils not to leave them to work alone. We would ask them to take the time to work alongside the pupil from time to time, to take interest in the pupil's work and to discuss maths with them. Of particular value would be getting the pupil to teach them how to do it. Nothing develops understanding better than having to teach it. When a pupil is asked to teach what they've just learnt, and fails to explain a point, then it is not a point of failure but an opportunity for a joint investigation to find out what the answer is. Both parent and pupil can look at the explanations given by Puppet Maths, look at school text books, and perhaps most importantly apply logic and reasoning to clarify what is happening. In this way, the pupil can patch up any gap in their understanding but importantly gets social interaction and recognition of their work they're doing as they do so.