When Every Child Has A Calculator Is There Any Reason For Them To Learn Tables Anymore?
Why learn tables anymore? Ian Stewart, a Maths Professor from one of the top Universities in the UK, thinks so.
Ian recently said in an article he wrote that children need to learn the maths basics so well that no thinking is required to use them. Part of this is the need to learn tables.
This is such an important view to hold whereas many people think that because we now can use calculators that it’s no longer so important to learn the times tables.
Calculators will give you the answer but this takes time and you also need to have a calculator at hand.
Think about this for a moment, do you reach into your bag for your calculator or laptop each time you go are in the queue to pay at the shops.
Well you might do if you wanted to cause a riot behind you in the queue.The professor’s article highlighted a debate between those educationalists who think children should learn tables and those that think that to learn tables is no longer necessary.
I very much share Ian Stewart’s view that they definitely are worth teaching.It is incredible that this is debated.
Rather then a debate on the issue of whether children should learn tables my view is that attention needs to be given to how children can learn tables better.
Knowing the times tables without having to think is the key to your children learning the times tables well.
When children can do this learning maths in general becomes much less difficult. Everything your children learn later on in school is built on the basic building blocks of maths and times tables is key to these building blocks.
Ian Stewart has a brilliant way of putting the point across of how important it is for a child to learn tables and the link with all the other maths topics children learn later on..
He says not learning the times tables well is “like trying to ride a bike when you can’t remember which bits are the pedals”.
On another point it’s pretty well known that lots of adults have developed a fear of maths.Why? During their time in education they simply did not properly learn the basic building blocks of maths, including times tables.
The point is the math’s is everywhere and in all aspects of our lives whether we realize it or not, and therefore the need for your children to understand and know maths is also everywhere.
In this regard one of the basics where a huge effort needs to be made is in the requirement to learn tables. Children need to learn tables so well that they know them just like they know their own names; they need to be able to recall them instantly.
Once children have learned the maths basics, once they have been how shown to learn tables really well, and of course have applied the techniques and learned them, their confidence will grow and grow.
This can only be very good for both their time at school and afterwards.
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Tags: learn tables, maths, multiplication tables, times tables