What is Number Sense? And How to Master it
Number sense is making math make sense, it is a broad notion, it is a person having the ability to understand and use numbers effectively and efficiently. Russell Gersten and David J. Chard suggests that number sense "refers to a child's fluidity and flexibility with numbers, the sense of what numbers mean and an ability to perform mental mathematics and to look at the world and make comparisons."
Number sense is not just teaching the child math facts and have them memorised (although its the very first step in building the foundations. But it is to get the child to understand the relationship between numbers, knowing how to use them and to make judgement's and estimation's, how to use them in flexible ways and how to develop useful strategies in math operations.
It is very important to teach the main body of basic math concepts early on to give them the underlying foundations of numbers. And to allow them to develop on each skill to be able to easy apply and transfer to more complex math operations.
Larry Martinek of mathnasium believes the main body of basic math skills to start your child in developing number sense is to have these three parts;
- Counting
- Wholes and parts
- Porpotional thinking
 |
| Mathnasium Number Sense Triangle |
Counting
Count from any number to any number by any number.
Mastering the art of counting will help your child develop their number sense. And this is not just counting in 1s for example 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. But counting involves a very sophisticated process that will take your though to probability and even calculus, counting is in all math operations so learning to count is a MUST. So you develop in your child to be able to count from any number, to any number by any number, forwards and backwards with ease and fluidity. These exercises can include counting by 5s for example 5, 10, 15, 20 or counting by 10 starting from 63, so that would be 63, 73, 83 etc. And what it means to count by any number to any number is the example of count from 0 to 7 by 1 and 3/4 which is much more challenging. But we understand that counting is not just one dimensional but it is multifaceted.
Wholes and Parts
Compare any two numbers or more by subtraction, division and use the idea that "the whole is equal to the sum of its parts" in problem solving activities. It can be a special number combination or number families like number bonds to 10 for example 6 + 4 = 10, six and four being the parts and ten being the whole, so we can derive from this fact that the whole is minus one part i.e. 10 - 6 = 4, four being one part. Also another wholes and parts is to understand everything you need to know about fractions, being able to split a number in halves, thirds, fourths, tenths and so on.
Proportional Thinking
Proportional thinking is thinking about multiplicative relationships. It is having the ability to understand and distinguish the relationship, change between different values. This is another important aspect in developing number sense since it is needed in daily life application as we get older the more it matters to us. As young children it doesn't come naturally because they don't think or reason proportionally, and proportional thinking takes skill and practice. For example young children may perceive ten pennies more superior then a quarter. And in many mainstream schools they teach proportional thinking as a unit, but it should be taught as a fundamental principle in developing a strong and solid number sense as it will help in many math operations like geometry, trigonometry, fractions, percentages, division and word problems.
No comments:
Post a Comment