Ways To Help Students Understand Math Better

 

I know we all have that point in teacher where we know we've taught the material, thought they understood it and then nothing. It's like you have to completely reteach everything and it seems like no matter how you choose to teach the material, it ends up the same.  There are some things you can do to increase the likelihood of having students remember and understand the material better.

We want them to understand what is taught, to apply the skills they learn, and remember the material in the future when referred to.  It does no good for students to only remember it for the space of a few days.

First, create a good class opener, bell ringer, or warm-up to start the class with. The first five minutes of class set the tone for the rest of the lesson. It is suggested teachers post the agenda telling students what material will be covered that day. In addition, there should be information on the learning objective or essential question for students.  It is best to form the learning objective as an I can statement rather than saying "Students will learn......." This allows the teacher to have students reflect on how well they met the learning objective by asking them at the end of the time. There should also be a short active warm-up to review or assess prior knowledge or show a short video to expose students to upcoming materials.

Second, when introducing new material to students it is best to provide multiple representations because the more representations offered, the better the chance students have of understanding it. One should show the concept with manipulative, pictures, breaking down the problem, or a symbolic representation.  Depending on the concept, it might involve showing the equation, on a number line, a picture, or words.  This is so you find a way to communicate the material to the students.

Next, think about solving the problems in multiple ways to students see there is more than one way to solve a problem and it encourages students to come up with their own creative way to solve the same problem.  The more ways students are shown to solve a problem, the deeper the conceptual understanding of the material students develop. In addition, once students solve the problem using one method, encourage them to solve it again using a different method. 

Furthermore, it is important to take time to show students how the concept is used in the real world.  When we can show how the equation or concept is applied in the real world, it increases student understanding of the math. If we can't find a real world application, we should look for how its applied within math or another subject or show how it was developed over time by looking at the history of it. 

Then one should take time to have students communicate their reasoning behind solving the problem.  They should communicate using both written and verbal forms and teachers can use this to help assess how well students understand the concept.  It is easy to incorporate 10 minutes during class for students to explain to each other their reasoning. 

Finally, set aside the last seven to ten minutes of the class to have students do a self assessment of how well they understood the concept using a rating scale of 1 to 5 with one meaning I'm still lost and 5 meaning I've got it and can teach others the concept.  This is the perfect opportunity to give students a preview of the object for the next day's class.  The teacher can take time to discuss where the lesson is going the next time.  The final thing to do during this time is to preview the homework assignment to eliminate any misunderstanding.

If you make sure you do all of these things during each lesson, you will increase the chances of your students understanding and retaining the concept.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.