Math Facts for Kids: The Decision Process

Memory can work a few ways. Either there is a weak association among information or a strong association. Both types can lead to the right answer when the situation is not so difficult. However, when the challenges begin to mount, having a strong association among information will yield to fewer errors than a weak association.

The key to math facts for kids is strong conceptual understanding. Parents looking to help their children grow should seek to have benefits over the long-term in addition to short-term grades on little assessments. In order to reach this goal, parents can supplement scholastic efforts with at-home tools that provide an organized number line frame work to promote conceptual understanding, mathematical fluency, plus a strong foundation for learning math facts. By using a product like JumpingJoey’s NumberLine, students build a coherent mental number line, with they use flexibly to solve a range of problems. This ability is important because, as reported in the journal Psychological Science of the Association of Psychological Science, scientists found that the quality of mental number line in children and pre-adolescents strongly and positively correlates with arithmetic aptitude, math achievement-test scores, and overall math grades. It greatly improves understanding of math facts for kids.

Math facts, for kids, are the building blocks for arithmetic, which form the foundation for higher math throughout the grades. It is important for the child to interact with numbers and consider their meaning with deep contemplation, because new topics will be built upon these numbers to form new knowledge. The child will need to relate what he knows to what is being taught. This relationship needs to be processed on a deep level.

When looking to help support a child’s learning math facts, parents can ask questions like “How did you get that answer?” or say “Show me your thinking.” Within this process, parents need to reward their children’s effort instead of their ability so as to build mathematical competence. To support the last goal, parents need to choose products like JumpingJoey’s NumberLine that help their children see themselves as capable mathematicians who are actively engaged in the learning process. Such products need to be intrinsically rewarding and promote intellectual curiosity.

Arithmetic is a fascinating subject of study. Numbers possess a lot of power. The Pre-K through elementary years are formative in establishing a child’s sense of self as a learner. Throughout these years, students are met with challenges, like learning math facts. For kids, an ability to persevere despite obstacles is of vital importance so that they may approach tasks with a realistic sense of confidence and openness to what is new.

Einstein said, “Never regard your study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs.” Children deserve to have this orientation towards learning. As parents and educators, we owe it to them to create an environment in which they can think this way. After all, it worked for Einstein, right?

Matthew Mandelbaum and Jamie Cohen are learning specialists and are the creators of Jumping Joey’s Number Line. Jumping Joey’s Number Line is an innovative, child-centered, multi-sensory arithmetic learning system for Pre-K through Elementary. Jumping Joey’s Number Line fosters enjoyable, engaging, effective and efficient mathematical experiences, where students are motivated and build a strong math foundation with long-term understanding. Students feel successful and excited about learning opportunities, and confident in their emerging abilities.