Tag: commutative property

  • How to Teach Math Concepts at the Dinner Table

    How to Teach Math Concepts at the Dinner Table

    Would you like to teach math everywhere you go? Well, here’s one from the table!

    Daughter enjoys playing with our salt-and-pepper shaker holder at dinner. She takes out the salt, then takes out the pepper, then replaces the salt, then replaces the pepper.

    The order in which she does these four operations vary. Including switching the salt and pepper.

    She’s slowly putting together the pieces that will one day become the commutative property.

    She’s also practicing substitution…

    She’s learning that the salt and pepper can be switched (commutative). And she’s learning that one can be interchanged for the other (substitution).

    …and the associative property!

    She attempted to put her small milk cup into the holder. It fit, but only with pushing. She then removed the milk cup and attempted to put it in the other side. (At her age the things grown-ups understand are not obvious to her.)

    Although non-equality isn’t part of the associative property (which is if a=b, b=c then a=c), the comparison of three things is.

    Here are the things she’s learning from this dinner session:

    This fact she discovers from interchanging them in the holder.
    By putting them in the holder in a different order, she learns that the equality is commutative.
    Since the milk cup won’t fit into the spot the salt was just in, she learns this.
    And trying to shove the milk cup in the other side yields this fact.

    So pull out the stops – give the children everything. And let them explore. If they have the gift of language, you can hint at some of these properties, but be careful not to go into a full “lesson” at dinner. Teaching math at the dinner table should be fun.

    Where have you seen math properties in your world? Share your stories in the comments – or link back to your story on your blog!

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  • Practicing Math Skills Early in Life Is a Brain Changing Event

    Practicing Math Skills Early in Life Is a Brain Changing Event

    Thanks to Will Summer who inspired this post with a retweet to me.

    Seems researchers have previously studied the differences in math skills among children vs. adolescents and grownups. Dr. Vinod Menon with has done new research on early math training that focused on kiddos who where merely one year apart.

    Turns out that in one year of math, the brain changes quite significantly!

    You can integrate early math learning into just about anything.

    Daughter is heavy into Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle. This is not a math book. Nor does it pretend to be. But I’ve found a way to use it to develop math skills.

    When we arrive at the page with the children, we practice counting the kids. First in one direction, then in the other – as direction matters to kids. It isn’t inherent that if you count one way you’ll get the same number as if you count the other way.

    Sometimes we’ll count the top row of children and add it to the number of the bottom row. We can practice the commutative property by adding 5 + 4 = 9 and the adding 4 + 5 = 9.

    As an alternative twist, we’ll count and add the kids on the left page to the kids on the right page. This one gets fun, because that little blond girl is half and half!

    So we can now add fractions and practice the commutative property at the same time!

    What else?

    With Dr. Menon’s research, we now know how important it is to get started early with math learning. What other things can you do to start teaching math skills early?

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