Math Excitement for Basic Skills

Generating excitement about math can be challenging. At the middle school level, I find that math splits into two different segments that each have their own challenges: basic skills and problem solving. This post deals with generating excitement with basic skill problems.

As with with motivating any behavior, teaching has to choose between positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. I find that linear positive reinforcement is almost always the best route for learning new things. Rarely do I use negative reinforcement, but when I do, I apply it to fight backsliding and I apply it exponentially.

For example, the first stage of math I found was a series of 'get to know what you know' tests. These test allowed me to find out strengths and weaknesses without stressing out my daughter. This test was a few problems of each kind of math skill: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percents, integer operations, etc. They went from easy to very hard.

At the end of the test I went over the specifics of where each mistake was made. In my daughter's case, it wasn't hard for me to figure out that her two main problems were basic math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts) and neatness. Doing math efficiently is all about having basic facts memorized and keeping you work neat and aligned. She knew all the recipes, just was having trouble with the ingredients.

So the next sessions we focused on basic math skills and neatness. I gave her short timed tests to reinforce her quick basic math fact skills. I gave her small sets of large math problems to practice her math skills.

Timed tests that you keep track of are a great motivator. They make a simple test fun and exciting. I even took the tests with my daughter. By plotting the scores over time, she got positive reinforcement, and in the background, learned about using plotting in a real application.

Over time she got past her problems with math facts and neatness and we could move on to problem solving and new skills.

Resources:

http://www.homeschoolmath.net/ -- A great resource, especially for worksheets.