Avoiding stress when teaching maths

The brain is a curious thing. It is made up of two parts, the primitive brain and the cerebral cortex. The way our minds behave are a consequence of the structure of our brains. The primitive brain is concerned with our survival, and the cerebral cortex handles the other functions. When we are under stress, the primitive brain takes over control of our mind and shuts down unnecessary brain functions the better to allow us to focus on the problem of survival. This is why it is so much harder for contestants on TV quiz shows to recall the answers to general knowledge questions than it is for the viewer sitting at home. Their primitive brains have shut down the memory function that would allow them to recall obscure facts while it focuses on fight or flight.
A similar effect occurs in children when faced with maths. They know that they are going to need to use the information that they are being given. This puts them under stress. This causes their primitive brains to shut down the very imaginative and memory functions that they need to comprehend what they are being taught. If pupils fear criticism or punishment if they cannot do the work they’re set, their primitive brains will switch off engagement with the subject completely, and the children will not listen to what’s being taught, but instead fret about the dire consequences that area bout to fall upon them. Instead of asking for help that will address their lack, they will try and hide their inability, because this is what their primitive brain is telling them to do. At Puppet Maths we wish to avoid giving pupils stress. Our puppets engage children’s attention allowing us to explain how mathematics works without them realising that they’re actually working. By this means we address their minds without having to overcome the barrier that the mind erects whenever it knows that it is encountering something for which it will be held accountable later. So we can capture their imaginations and their memory. We believe that this is the best way to teach maths whether the child is learning at home or at school.