Again I am writing about the abstract nature of mathematics. Why would anyone think in the abstract when they can think in terms of things. It's why we draw diagrammes before we set about solving a problem. It's why scientists create analogies when dealing with conceptual ideas... what is an electron? No one has ever seen one, that's for sure. Sometimes it behaves like a little ball, on other occasions it behaves like a wave. Depending on which is the most appropriate way of thinking for the problem in question, the physicist chooses either one description or the other. In maths we should adopt the same strategy. Think of a mechanical analogy. If we're adding up numbers: think of piles of coins, if we're solving equations: think of a balance, if we're performing algebra: think of boxes containing unknown numbers which we move about. Maths is hard when we think of it in an abstract way. So don't think of it that way. At Puppet Maths we teach our pupils to imagine the situations where the maths might be applied. This not only gives relevance to the mathematical routines, but actually makes the maths easier. At Puppet Maths we are dedicated to making maths both easy and fun.

Mechanical analogies allow pupils to imagine whats going on.