Improving Mathematical Skills With Maths Enrichment Classes in Singapore

As school studies are not enough for a child to cover up all the subjects and their topics especially mathematics. So it is recommended for every child to have admissions in the best maths learning centers. To enhance the mathematical skills of a student, we must offer them some maths enrichment programs to participate in as well as a maths tuition center for regular practicing over mathematical concepts.

Maths Enrichment Programs

A maths enrichment program helps a child to enhance his mathematical skills with various maths creative games which lead them to understand the number system as well as the basic concepts addition, subtraction and multiplications. In maths enrichment program a student can participate in various games which will enhance their calculations and mathematical basic concepts. The students also get teachings for independent learning, problem solving as well as creative thinking. They are able to find the creative ways to empower their mathematical problem solving skills with the deep and simple strategies. 

There are various activities in the maths enrichment classes Singapore such as various workshops for maths, hands-on sessions, quizzes and competitions, presentations and lectures, student conferences, residential courses, online presentations and conferences. Also it includes various real world scenarios which can help students to co-relate their daily life with the concepts which supports them to better understand the topics.

Through these programs, a student can have the ability to solve the problems at their own independent thinking. Also there are mathematical games so that the students will be able to learn some new skills from the game. There are strategies in the games which leads the students to win from other participants. He gets familiar with the rules of the games and try to win according to the points and learn how the game is going on and about the rules and winning criteria of the game which sharpen the mindset of the students, With enjoyment, the student will be able to learn various concepts and logics behind the mathematical questions.

Maths Learning Centers

Maths learning centers play a vital role while improving the mathematical skills with proper intellectuality. Maths requires full practice over each and every topic. Under the supervision of a well qualified and well versed trainer, one can easily gain the knowledge about the mathematical concepts and logics. As practice makes a man perfect, it is the best strategy applied in case of the maths. The trainer will guide with the basic concept behind a chapter but the understanding and applying the concept at different places will lead to the correct solutions and correct answers.

EiMaths is the best maths learning center in Singapore grooming their students for future learning and preparing them to grasp the mathematical concepts easily for higher education levels. The skilled team makes it easy for the students to understand the concepts, acquiring skills through creative activities and solving heuristic problems. They prepare candidates for higher grades with firstly simplest teachings and afterwards with the complex ones.

See More: www.eimaths.com

Maths enrichment programs offers candidates self confidence with various fun activities so that after the enrichment session they provide proper attention towards maths with their own interest as they have found relations of our daily life with mathematical concepts such as addition, subtraction etc.

The Major Purpose of Maths Enrichment

Many individuals these days are not aware of how mathematics can be beneficial later on in their lives. The subject tends to teach people a lot of things which they may not be aware of in the first place. Everything in the world has been based upon maths and that is why every other field these days consists of maths. Maths enrichment is necessary because it teaches people everything that is around them and most of all, all the technological changes that have been made into the world are due to maths. Therefore, studying the subject is not only interesting but it also has many other advantages. 

Logic & Reasoning Power

Enrichment of the subject is very essential due to the fact that it gives people the right amount of reasoning skills that they need in order to win discussions and most importantly, it helps in debating too. While debates do require a lot of argumentative speech skills, but it also requires individuals to use a certain amount of reasoning in order to win the argument or the discussion. With the help of maths, people can provide a good amount of statistics and well as some other facts which are related to maths in order to prove their point of view and to have the upper hand ultimately. 

Managing Money

Maths enrichment is also highly important as it teaches people all there is about handling money. Money management really cannot be possible with good knowledge of maths, which is precisely what makes it one of the most powerful subjects in the universe. All transactions, investments as well as counting of money is done by individuals who know maths well. This is something that makes it a powerful subject even in the terms of today’s world since everything has a certain cost and price. Hence, those who wish to know the currency and the matters of selling and buying should be fully knowledgeable about the subject. 

Managing Time

Maths enrichment is mandatory as it enables people to be able to manage time in both the short and the long run. Time management is amongst one of the most important things as it enables people to know how much time they need or how much time is left to start or to finish a certain task. The best example is of managing time in the process of giving tests as well as final examinations where saving time is the key for being able to finish the exam at the right time that has been provided. With proper knowledge of maths, individuals are going to be able to manage time well always.

Applications in Real Life

Individuals require enrichment of the subject since it has real life applications, which is very impressive. Since the subject has real life applications, people can use it for the purpose of solving problems that they face in real life. For instance, everyone should be aware of maths in order to be able to calculate tips when they dine in at local restaurants. Same is the case with counting bus and train fares. With proper knowledge of maths, individuals can go on and use it in their lives on a day to day basis in order to acquire the answers to many questions daily.

Acquiring Maths Enrichment – The Conclusion

Because of all these advantages, the subject is considered as one of the most fun subjects which are highly important to learn and study in both the short as well as the long run. Through adequate understanding of the subject, people can choose a lot of different kinds of field according to whatever they want or prefer. This is because maths has been included in all modern fields in the present times. Hence, individuals with high end maths skills can surely reach the heights of success in a short period of time.  

More maths enrichment for Primary school and preschool, visit here.

Pros of Learning Concept Maths

Mathematics is one of those subjects which are tough and also have many advantages to offer in terms of learning in general. The world has progressed immensely over the past couple of years and all of this development has been done through maths, which is precisely why it is so important in the first place. The subject has become the core of many high end fields these days that people can eventually choose if they wish after becoming fully acquainted with maths. Concept mathematics is something allows people to get an insight about the subject and how it can be actually learnt later on.

Critical Thinking

One of the most prominent reasons for studying concept maths is the fact that it enables people to develop a good amount of critical thinking which helps them overcome a lot of obstacles in their daily lives and in the long run as well. With increased critical thinking, people can actually achieve a lot in their lives and this has been fully revealed through different surveys that have shed light on the fact that studying this kind of maths eventually does enhance the critical thinking power so many people wish to achieve in the present times.

Increased Career Choice

On another note, maths is important for anyone who wishes to have a bright future. This is due to the fact that more and more fields these have require maths and those who do not study it or cannot do well in the subject often stay behind as a result. Therefore, having exceptionally good mathematical skills is something that most people need to have if they wish to actually gain success and want to be someone big in a short period of time in the future. For that purpose, high end learning of the subject is required by all costs.

Analysis

Another common reason behind studying concept maths is the fact that it enables people to have enhanced analytical skills. With increased analytical skills, individuals can not only score well in mathematics, but they can also go on to score high in a lot of other subjects in the near future. This is something which cannot be acquired from any other subject and through maths solely can individuals go on to do analysis in different aspects of their lives. Analytical skills can be difficult to achieve but with proper learning and studying of maths, the process is most likely to become easy later on.

Logic & Reasoning

Individuals have also been highly recommended to learn maths due to the fact that it allows them to achieve a higher sense of logic as well as reasoning. These can come in handy in the process of discussing a wide range of different topics and discussions which are crucial in every day’s routine. Hence, mathematics has always been used for the purpose of providing proper base and evidence in matters such as debates and everything as such. With prominent figures that are facts, one can surely use the subject to their advantages at all times and that too, without facing any kind of trouble in the matter.

Concept Maths – Why is it a Requirement?

After all that this kind of mathematics has to offer to people, everyone surely needs to study it in order to enhance their chances of a bright future. Not only is the subject great for studying and increasing thinking skills, but it is also best for anyone who wishes to be able to enter fields that require maths. On the other hand, it gives individuals the ability to have increased reasoning and logic, which is another thing that makes this subject stand out from all the other ones that exist these days and have been since the past few decades.  

More interesting concept maths for your children - check out www.eimaths.com today

Teaching Primary and Preschool Maths Using Multiple Intelligences (PART 2)

Continue from part 1 over here

Achievement Tests

At the end of the first three-week intervention period, pupils took a 25-item short answer review test on “Fractions”. At the end of every sub-topic on “Decimals” within the second six-weeks’ intervention period, pupils sat for a 25-item short answer review test.

Qualitative Data

Pupils’ interviews and teachers’ observations and reflection journals were also used as instruments for the qualitative data collection.

Procedure

The study was quasi-experimental in design and equivalent group post-test only design was adopted. One teacher taught the comparison classes and another teacher taught the project classes from the low and average-ability groups.

All the pupils and teachers involved in the project underwent MI diagnostic testing. The teachers were briefed on the findings and how it can help them to improve the way they learn and the way they help the pupils to learn. The project group teacher was given her class’s MI profile which showed the detailed intelligence variability within the class. This would help her to design and customize her Mathematics lessons to cater to the dominant multiple intelligences of the pupils in her two project classes.

Table 3 shows the results from the MIDAS Questionnaire which summarizes the MI profile of all the pupils. It indicated that pupils have all the eight multiple intelligences in almost equivalent dominance. The naturalistic intelligence was the strongest intelligence overall. All of the pupils’ intelligences were above the 50^th percentile.

Scale	Natural	Musical	Spatial	Ling	Logical	Kin	Inter	Intra
Mean	55.9	54.1	53.8	53.8	53.1	52.9	52.0	50.8
SD	16.4	14.0	14.7	14.2	13.4	14.7	15.0	14.4

Table 3: Main Scale Means (N= 140)

Ability Group	Low-Ability Group		Average-Ability Group
Multiple Intelligence	Project (N=30)	Comparison (N=32)	Project (N=38)	Comparison (N=40)
Musical	56.4 (12.1)	56.9 (14.7)	54.4 (12.4)	55.7 (16.1)
Kinesthetic	56.8 (11.4)	50.1 (14.2)	52.2 (15.9)	57.5 (14.5)
Logical	56.2 (12.4)	44.6 (13.3)	54.5 (14.0)	56.2 (12.8)
Spatial	58.8 (12.3)	52.6 (15.3)	54.2 (16.2)	56.0 (15.1)
Linguistic	53.3 (13.7)	51.0 (17.0)	54.8 (15.1)	57.2 (13.3)
Interpersonal	54.5 (13.1)	49.4 (16.4)	52.4 (17.0)	54.0 (14.3)
Intrapersonal	52.4 (12.1)	45.0 (12.5)	51.2 (16.1)	54.4 (14.7)
Naturalist	56.4 (16.7)	52.1 (16.4)	58.3 (17.9)	57.3 (15.6)

Table 4: Mean Score and Standard Deviation of Class MI Profile

Table 4 shows the MI profile of each of the project and comparison classes. The comparison group teacher was not given the results of his class’s MI profile. He was to carry out his Mathematics lessons using the traditional method of teaching.

The instruction for the two groups during the three-week treatment, varied in the following ways. The comparison group was taught the traditional method of “drill and practice”. The project group was taught the MI lessons daily where pupils were engaged in activities that encompassed all the eight intelligences. Pupils were taught using colourful and attractive visuals on power-point slides and were engaged in some of the following activities:

·         logic problems, reciting rhymes, raps and jingles

·         singing songs on mathematical concepts, constructing models, posters and number lines,

·         playing board games, “Bingo” and “Uno”

·         handling real life authentic manipulatives

·         working in pairs and groups

·          brainstorming and presenting their project work

·         Reflections on the day’s lesson in their journals.

The MI infused lessons on “Fractions” were crafted by the project group teachers. The comparison group teacher was not involved in the crafting the MI lessons so as to reduce threats to internal validity of the research project. At the end of the three-week treatment sessions, both groups were administered a review test on “Fractions”. The results from this post assessment would determine if the project group achieves a higher mean score than the comparison group. Fifteen pupils were selected at random from the project group to be interviewed to get their feedback on their MI infused lessons.

In the second semester, both the project and comparison groups were taught “Decimals” through MI infused lessons. The comparison group teacher was given his class’s MI profile which showed the detailed intelligence variability within the class prior to the six-week MI intervention. This would help him to design and customize his Mathematics lessons on “Decimals” to cater to the dominant multiple intelligences of the pupils. The pilot group teacher and the comparison group teacher crafted sixteen MI infused lessons on “Decimals”. Both groups were administered a series of four review tests. The results from these review assessments would reveal if the project group achieve a higher mean score than the comparison group due to the longer exposure to MI. Five pupils were selected at random from each class to get their feedback on their MI infused lessons. A focus group discussion among the project teachers was also conducted to get their feedback on the whole project.

PETALS^TM was also administered before and after the intervention period. Post-test results of the project group would reveal if there is an increase in the level of engagement among pupils who are taught Mathematics using the MI strategies and if the longer exposure to MI has a positive impact on pupils’ engagement, motivation and attitude in the learning of Mathematics.

Results

Measure	Mean (SD)		Effect Size
	Pretest	Post-test
PETALSTM Scale
Pedagogy	69.6 (16.6)	76.1 (15.8)	0.39
Experience of Learning	64.0 (19.3)	68.8 (18.5)	0.25
Tone of Environment	70.7 (13.7)	70.8 (19.5)	0.01
Assessment for Learning	67.1 (15.6)	73.8 (17.7)	0.43
Learning Content	66.3 (19.2)	75.6 (17.7)	0.48
Engagement Scale
Affective Engagement	76.4 (17.7)	81.1 (15.0)	0.31
Behavioural Engagement	75.4 (15.1)	78.1 (18.2)	0.18
Cognitive Engagement	72.4 (16.9)	77.0 (15.8)	0.27

Table 5: Mean comparison on pretest and post-test survey of the project group (N=68)

Table 5 shows results of engagement level among the two project groups. The results revealed a small to moderate effect size for Pedagogy, Experience of Learning, Assessment for Learning and Learning Content. The intervention had a higher impact especially on Assessment for Learning, and Learning Content.

The following graph shows the results from the review test on “Fractions”. There is a difference of 12.0 in favour of the project group. Thus, it may be concluded, with some degree of reservation, the MI intervention has a significant impact on the higher achievement among the project group pupils. Results indicated that the MI intervention seemed to have a greater impact on the low-ability pupils.

 

  

The following graph shows the results from the review tests on “Decimals”. There is a difference of 15.0 in favour of the project group. Thus, it may be concluded that a longer exposure to the MI intervention has a positive impact on the higher achievement among the pupils who were taught through MI strategies for nine weeks as compared to the comparison group pupils who were taught through MI strategies for only six weeks. Results also indicated that the MI intervention has a greater impact on the low-ability pupils.

 

Table 7 shows the motivational and attitudinal levels of the comparison and project groups. For all the ten items, the project group scored higher than the comparison group. This suggests that a longer exposure to the MI intervention has a positive impact on the motivational and attitudinal levels of the project group pupils who were taught through MI strategies for nine weeks as compared to the comparison group pupils who were taught through MI strategies for only six weeks. Results also suggest that the pupils were more influenced by exciting, interesting and challenging lessons.

Table 7: Comparisons on motivational and attitudinal level means

No.	Item	Project group	Comparison group	Effect size
F1	I am excited about learning.	85.8 (17.4)	72.5 (22.1)	0.60
F2	I am interested in what is being taught.	84.1 (20.5)	69.6 (23.2)	0.61
F3	I like the subject.	83.1 (20.0)	74.1 (24.4)	0.37
F4	I like doing the activities.	83.2 (21.7)	75.9 (23.2)	0.31
F5	I want to learn more about this subject.	81.7 (18.0)	73.5 (24.7)	0.33
F6	I look forward to the lesson.	84.9 (22.2)	74.2 (21.1)	0.51
F7	I like learning because what I learn in class is useful.	79.0 (24.3)	70.0 (27.2)	0.33
F8	I will keep on trying even if the task is difficult.	79.8 (20.0)	69.7 (24.2)	0.42
F9	I like the challenging work given to us.	79.6 (22.5)	66.0 (27.5)	0.49
F10	I like learning because I can choose the task that I do best.	77.0 (22.6)	64.3 (25.8)	0.49

In addition to the quantitative data, feedback from the project group affirmed the improvement in attitude and the high motivation experienced by pupils from the MI infused lessons. Below is a blog entry by a pupil:

• “We sang a lot of songs about decimals and fractions. It is very fun and interesting learning decimals and fractions. Our teacher teaches us different types of methods and using [attractive] power point [slides] to teach our class. I love Maths! It is really fun to learn! All the questions [are] like solving mystery cases! We also played Maths games to learn. Our teacher teaches us Maths in very fun ways. I love to play more Maths games and learn more about Maths! The Problem Sums are really challenging! Maths is Fun!”

Feedback from the project teachers further affirmed the improvement in attitude and the high motivation observed in pupils through the MI infused lessons. Below is a teacher’s reflection:

• “I have seen for myself how planning a lesson that involves multiple intelligences actually makes the lessons more exciting for the pupils. Pupils can relate better, recall the learning points better, and on the whole, they are more motivated, even to do homework. By getting pupils involved through activities, songs, stories, and using powerpoint slides packed with cute pictures and animations, pupils actually looked forward to learning. This is true “Teach Less, Learn More” in action.”

Discussion and Conclusion

Based on the analysis of the data presented, it is seen that the MI intervention in the area of Mathematics has made positive contributions for the pupils’ engagement, motivation, attitude and achievement towards the learning of Mathematics. Pupils’ and teachers’ reflections support the statistical findings.

The findings obtained from this study, resembles other studies which evaluate MI instructional approach for the pupil success and attitudes. In a study by Cluck and Hess (2003), results showed improved assignment completion, class participation and engagement of learners using MI. Bednar, Coughlin, Evans and Sievers (2002) showed an increase in pupil motivation and positive attitude through the use of MI. In Douglas, Burton and Reese-Durham (2008), results showed considerable increase in academic performance on pupils taught through MI compared to those taught using the traditional method.   Three of the four improvements were observed: improved academic performance, greater impact on the low-ability pupils and behaviour improvements namely on pupils’ attitude and motivation in learning of Mathematics. Discipline problems tend to disappear, as reflected by the project teachers, when pupils are excited about learning in a fun filled lesson.

The success of the project led to a refinement of the prototype and an emergent model for “Teaching Mathematics through Multiple Intelligences” in West View. By 2010, all teachers were involved in infusing MI strategies in their Mathematics lessons. The significant improvement in the school’s Math PSLE results, an increase in percentage pass from 66.4% in 2009 to 81.1% in 2010, indicates that MI has positive impact in pupils’ academic performance. Pupils who were taught Mathematics through MI over three years (2008-2010) produced better PSLE scores than pupils who have not been taught through MI.

In closing, the most beneficial aspect of our research is that it takes into consideration human differences within the classroom and teaches the subject matter in a variety of ways appealing to all learners.

More preschool, Primary school maths experts on creative maths and Heuristics Maths, click here.

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