Just a word of warning. If a child doesn’t understand something that you’ve just tried to explain, you need to keep your cool and think about the next logical step you can take to get it across. The following steps go backwards in order from (1) requiring a high level of understanding to (4) requiring a low level of understanding. So start at (1), and continue going down the list until your child gets it.

1 Try explaining a different way. If this doesn’t work…
2 Try reducing the size of the numbers involved. So if you were up in the 100s, go down to the 10s. If this doesn’t work…
3 Get some hands-on materials that you can use to represent the situation and model the maths situation using these materials. Your child obviously needs to SEE it in action. If this doesn’t work…
4 Get the real items you are talking about in the maths situation if you can, AND reduce the size of the numbers even further (below 10). Now your child should get it!

Also, don’t expect a child to remember anything after one explanation. They need lots of modelling.

Let’s look in a little more detail at some of the features just mentioned:

They can choose from a range of games, and the same game can be played multiple times, with different content each time.

Children love games, and the apps are always bright, fun and graphically engaging. But are they mathematically engaging for a child who doesn’t get maths? The answer is, yes they are. Initially. But they are not tutors, and children who don’t understand the concepts behind the games will come unstuck and not want to play after a few failed attempts. For children who do understand the concepts, they’re great, especially as the content always changes.

Some even give parents statistics and progress reports.

Parents naturally want to know that their child is getting on well, and there’s nothing like a progress report generated on the spot. But are these reports really of value? If a child is getting poor results in one area, for example, what then?  The parent can mention it to the child’s teacher, and that may be helpful. However, because maths understanding builds on earlier level understanding, a problem that an app highlights may actually indicate a problem at a much earlier level. If this is the case, hammering away at the game’s level will do no good, and just frustrate everybody.

Games are often leveled, not always in difficulty, but frequently in the time given to answer questions.

We put a lot of pressure on our children to do maths quickly, but is this really a useful thing? Well, yes it’s fine, as long as we are sure that the child understands what’s going on. If a child doesn’t understand, they’ll guess when under pressure. Alarm bells should go off in your head if your child is guessing at maths. It’s a clear indicator that they don’t understand, and you need to take action. Get a proper assessment, find out what level they’re truly at and work on with hands-on materials on the relevant concepts.

Now there’s that phrase…hands-on. There is a significant difference between pictures on a screen and hands-on experiences. A child who doesn’t understand with pictures will often get it if they are given manipulatives because this is an earlier mathematical stage. An even earlier stage is acting situations out.

Number sense, greater than/less than, addition & subtraction are stalwart features in apps for Years 1& 2.

Modern maths has been embraced whole-heartedly by our education systems, and the latest apps are reflecting this. But if modern maths is all that it’s cracked up to be, why then are there so many children failing? The answer is that very few of our educational systems have moved far enough ahead in their understanding about teaching maths. Modern maths is all about children understanding mathematical situations and recognising what to do, but not all educators understand what to do if a child still doesn’t get it after they’ve gone through their palette of strategies. A lot more training is necessary to develop greater understanding of what to assess, how to take a child back far enough and then how to move them forward effectively.

Apps are great in giving practice in maths that a child already understands. If, however, our educational systems are still not up to speed with helping children with maths difficulties, do you really think that the makers of apps are?

Click here for help with 5-12 year olds’ maths