Where are the algorithms?

Primary maths - different to when you were at school?!   

Often students will be working on maths at home which may appear different to the way it was taught in the past. As research into mathematical learning grows, we aim to use the best strategies we can to build our students understanding.

So where are the algorithms? Isn’t that ‘real’ maths?

As outlined in the syllabus, first we focus on estimating strategies. If you are learning at home a great prompt is “what would you expect / estimate / think the answer could be?” “How could you prove that?” or “How could you work that out?”

Students may find writing out informal mental strategies to be more efficient than using formal written algorithms. For example, 8000 − 673 is easier to calculate mentally than by using a formal algorithm.  

So if your child is inventing strategies or using a more unconventional method encourage it!  We will teach the formal algorithm methods when the time is right, and the answer impossible to work out any other way!

Estimating

Estimating

Estimating is an important strategy that we use more often in real life situations than precise calculations.

Over the next week and in the holidays look for opportunities to estimate quantities or totals. For our younger students they might estimate:

How many stairs in that staircase?

Total money in the coin section of a family members wallet.

How many books on a shelf?

How long until lunch?

Our older students might estimate:

The total of the grocery bill

The number of people living in their street

The sale price of a house

The duration of a trip or activity

Money in a full piggy bank

Build on the maths by asking students to prove or explain why their estimation is reasonable!

Happy Estimating!

Mrs Usher