Use imagination to make sense of maths

In “Outliers” Mr. Gladwell observes “The much storied disenchantment with mathematics among Western children starts in the third and fourth grades, and Fuson [Karen Fuson, a psychologist at Northwestern University] argues that perhaps a part of that disenchantment is due to the fact that math doesn’t make sense; its linguistic structure is clumsy; its basic rules seem arbitrary and complicated.” Third and fourth grades are children aged eight and nine. There is a clear developmental stage that occurs when children turn eight when they become less obedient and more independent. They suddenly become less likely to do something just to please the teacher or their parents. They want to start doing things for themselves. At this age, they need to understand what’s in it for them. Hence it is even more important that children at this age find maths to be something that they can achieve at, and something that is fun. At Puppet Maths we make maths fun, children love the school subjects that they can “do”. How often have we heard a child say “I like this, this is easy?”. So we at Puppet Maths make maths easy, by capturing the child’s imagination. Children like challenges and puzzles, until they get stuck, so our aim is to challenge children and stretch them, but at the same time to give them the tools and support they need so that they don’t get stuck, instead they succeed at maths.