MATHS CAFÉ AND
WORKSHOP
DRAW A PICTURE OF A MATHEMATICIAN
MATHS PROBLEMS
• What is the √64 ?
• 6a + 5 = 14
• Identify the hypotenuse
HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE EVER SAID
THE FOLLOWING?
• I am no good at Maths!
• Oh Maths ask someone else.
• I was no good at Maths at school.
• Boys are often better at Maths than girls.
• Maths is all about right and wrong
answers.
ATTITUDE TO MATHS
• We now know that the messages we give to children can change their
performance dramatically. Researchers are learning that children’s ideas about
their ability and potential are extremely important, much more than previously
understood. Brain research is now showing that messages children pick up from
their parents about Maths and their parents’ relationship with Maths can also
change children’s Maths learning and development.
• In an important study researchers found that when mothers told their daughters
they were not good at Maths in school, their daughter’s achievement declined
almost immediately.
• The parents’ Maths knowledge did not turn out to have any impact, only their level
of Maths anxiety.
• It is critical that when parents interact with children about Maths they
communicate positive messages, saying that Maths is exciting and it is an open
subject that anyone can learn with hard work, that it is not about being clever or
not and that Maths is all around us in the world and used in almost every job.
GROWTH MINDSET
Click the link below to view the Growth
Mindset YouTube Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zrtHt3bB
mQ
MATHS IN THE MEDIA
• Maths is not seen as cool or aspirational. Often
Mathematicians are portrayed as loner characters
that struggle with social interactions. Look at the
examples in these films:
• Good will hunting
• A beautiful mind
• Rain man
1
2
3
4
5
Encourage children to play maths puzzles and games. Award winning mathematician, Sarah Flannery report- ed that her maths
achievement and enthusiasm came not from school but from the puzzles she was given to solve at home. Puzzles and games –
anything with a dice really – will help children enjoy maths, and develop number sense, which is critically important.
Always be encouraging and never tell children they are wrong when they are working on Maths problems. Instead find the
logic in their thinking – there is always some logic to what they say. For example if your child multiplies 3 by 4 and gets 7, say
– Oh I see what you are thinking, you are using what you know about addition to add 3 and 4, when we multiply we have 4
groups of 3...
Never associate maths with speed. It is not important to work quickly, and we now know that forcing kids to work quickly on
maths is the best way to start maths anxiety for children, especially girls.
Never share with your children the idea that you were bad at maths at school or you dislike it – especially if you are a mother.
Researchers found that as soon as mothers shared that idea with their daughters, their daughter’s achievement went down.
Perhaps most important of all – encourage a “growth mindset” let children know that they have
unlimited maths potential and that being good at maths is all about working hard.