The Trouble with Maths: A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties

Front Cover
Routledge, Jul 3, 2013 - Education - 184 pages

Now in a second edition, the award-winning The Trouble with Maths offers important insights into the often confusing world of numeracy. By looking at learning difficulties in maths from several perspectives, including the language of mathematics, thinking styles and the demands of individual topics, this book offers a complete overview of the most common problems associated with mathematics teaching and learning. It draws on tried-and-tested methods based on research and the author’s many years of classroom experience to provide an authoritative yet highly accessible one-stop classroom resource.

Combining advice, guidance and practical activities, this user-friendly guide will enable you to:

  • develop flexible thinking skills;
  • use alternative strategies for pupils to access basic facts;
  • understand the implications of pre-requisite skills, such as working memory, on learning;
  • implement effective preventative measures before disaffection sets in;
  • recognise maths anxiety and tackle self-esteem problems;
  • tackle the difficulties with word problems that many pupils may have;
  • select appropriate materials to enhance understanding.

With useful features such as checklists for the evaluation of books, an outline for setting up an inclusive Maths Department policy and a brand new chapter on materials, manipulatives and communication, this book will equip you with the essential skills to tackle your pupils’ maths difficulties and improve standards. This book will be useful for all teachers, classroom assistants, learning support assistants and parents who have pupils who underachieve with maths.

From inside the book

Contents

learning difficulties in maths and dyscalculia
1
2 Factors that affect learning
19
3 What the curriculum asks pupils to do and where difficulties may occur
40
4 Thinking style and mathematics
61
5 Developmental perspectives
79
6 The vocabulary and language of maths
98
7 Anxiety and attributions
110
8 The inconsistencies of maths
119
long division and fractions
142
Appendix 1 Further reading
154
Appendix 2 Checklists and resources
155
Appendix 3 Jog your memory cards for multiplication facts
157
Appendix 4 Setting an inclusive maths department policy
161
Notes
166
Index
168
Copyright

multisensory learning
125

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About the author (2013)

Steve Chinn is an independent international lecturer, writer and researcher. He spent twenty-four years as head teacher of three specialist schools and was a mainstream teacher for fourteen years. www.stevechinn.co.uk

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