Listening to Children's Math Ideas - Parent Newsletter 2

Listening to Children’s Math Ideas
By Linda Levi

The first step in fostering children’s mathematical understanding is allowing them to use their own strategies to solve problems. This article focuses on the second step in fostering children’s mathematical understanding: listening to children as they explain how they solve problems.

Choose one of these problems for your child. Try to pick something that will challenge, but not overwhelm your child:

5 + 6 = 
17 + 9 – 9 = 
27 + 35 = 
25 + 18 – b = 25
82 – 67 = j
228 + 49 = m + 226
76 – 39 = 77 – k
87 x 19 = 87 x 20 - p

After your child solves the problem, ask, “How did you get that?” Even though these problems are fairly traditional, the strategies that children use to solve them can be quite innovative. Children’s understanding of mathematics will grow if they are given opportunities to reflect upon their solution strategies. A great way for elementary school students to engage in reflection is to tell someone their ideas. It is common for a child to realize a mistake or notice a more efficient strategy when telling someone how he or she solved a problem. If you don’t understand the strategy, ask questions. Children deepen their understanding when they provide further explanations. If your child solved the problem with a traditional procedure, you might ask, “Can you solve this problem in a different way?” before moving on to another problem. You can ask this question even if your child used an innovative strategy. As children’s mathematical understanding develops, they are able to use multiple strategies to solve a problem.

Have fun listening to your child’s own strategies!

Linda Levi is an Elementary School Mathematics Consultant and Researcher and Developer of Cognitively Guided Instruction. Dr. Levi has researched the factors that enable children to learn math with understanding and is currently studying how the teaching of mathematics in elementary school can prepare children for success in algebra.