Rooke Maths

I recently watched a TED-talk where the speaker discussed the fact that in her research she found men are more aggressive and competitive than women, because men have more testosterone than women. She mentioned that if boys’ aggression is suppressed, they become frustrated and abusive as adults. One healthy way for boys to channel their aggression is by participating in sport. In martial arts boys learn to control their aggression with healthy discipline while gaining confidence in their ability to fend for themselves. Another suggestion I recommend is to give boys healthy goals to fight for such as fighting for causes such as climate change, pollution reduction, solutions to drug addiction and poverty reduction. Cheer your sons on as they fight to make the world a better place.

Loneliness

Since loneliness is one of our youths greatest problems, it is important to teach your child some social skills. An open conversation with your child about making friends can be very helpful.

Taking the first step to connect with a stranger can be daunting. It is important to find a prompt to connect such as giving the person a sincere compliment. The compliment could be on clothing, jewelry, hair, some achievement or anything else.

Another good way to connect is to offer a person something such as food or a toy. You can also offer to help a person with something such as carrying a bag for them.

Teach your child to ask questions and be a good listener. Teach your child to be sensitive to a friend’s feelings or what his/her friend says and needs.

Encourage your child to invite the friend over to your house for some activity such as a meal, swimming, a game or to do some craft. This does not have to be a lavish occasion and avoid comparing your home with someone else's home. What is most important is to make the friend feel welcome, relaxed and enjoy the company at your home.

Encourage your child to avoid stressful relations like competing with friends but rather be supportive of friends and proud of their achievements. Make sure they do things together that are just fun and enjoyable.

Create a safe environment for your child to socialize. Supervision is necessary but should correspond with your child’s age group. Avoid being controlling and rather suggest activities when needed.

If your child gets bullied, explain to him or her that the bully is an unhappy insecure person. Happy well-adjusted people have no need to bully others.

The war in Ukraine

We truly see how man’s primitive desire for possessions, to be better than others and to control others have lead to the war in Ukraine. These primitive desires have made modern man both great but unchecked could lead his to total annihilation.

These instincts are so deeply embedded in us, that it starts from a very early stage where one sibling tries to control and outperform the other. Where these instincts are channeled through self-discipline and respect, it can shape a child into becoming the best version of itself. Unchecked these desires lead to abusers and criminals.

Any parent will tell you that sibling rivalry is one of the most difficult things to manage. Parents’ own behavior and the way they treat their children, determines the direction the child will go.

Pros and cons of competition

It seems it is human nature to compare your child or yourself with other people. Most parents and teachers take great pride in their children’s achievements and competitiveness almost seems inevitable.

Being proud of your children’s achievements shows them that you care about them. Competitions motivate a child to work harder and build a positive self image. However there is a down side to pushing a child too hard to achieve. If the pressure to achieve becomes too much, it can have the opposite effect namely cause the child to dislike the activity and damage the relationship with the adult.

In the global world we live in today, competitions become hard and mean since you are competing with the whole world. We all know there can only be 1 winner in each competition. Being a winner can also make a child unpopular with his/her peers and cause a child to feel isolated.

There are many important aspects to a child’s life that should not involve competing. Like his/her relationships with the family and friends. Some things do not do well in a competitive environment like creativity, imagination and social interactions.

It is important that your relationship with your child does not only center around his/her achievements. Make sure you spend time just doing fun things and be aware of your child’s other needs like emotional needs and building character.

Making hexagons with equilateral triangles
Without understanding the problems of drawing specific triangles, learners will not easily understand the theory of congruent triangles and their uses. In this exercise I will illustrate one example, using decoupage, of how learners can explore the geometry of triangles.

Requirements:
• Please feel free to use your own materials and uses for this project. You can use fabric, wood, flat pieces of plastic etc to make coasters with them. I will be using 3 scrapbook coloured paper and cardboard. Each learner will need 3 different coloured or decorative craft sheets of paper (or other material)
• A blank paper, a pencil, an eraser and a ruler.
• Flat cardboard sheet big enough for the hexagonal coaster (approximately 12cmx12cm).
• Scissors and school glue or Modge Podge.
Method:
• Learners are told to make a template of a 5cm equilateral triangle using the blank paper, pencil and ruler only. This will be done using trial and error (the method with a compass will make more sense after the trial and error exercise which can be introduced once learners have struggled with the trial and error method).
• Once their triangle is more or less perfect, they have to cut it out.
• They now use this triangle to draw 6 triangles on the magazine pages or decorative paper and cut these triangles out.
• Arrange and glue these triangles into a pentagon on the cardboard.
• They can decorate each triangle as they please.
• Paint the pentagons with the glue or Modge Podge to seal it.
• Once the glue is dry, cut the plastic sheet around the pentagon.
At a later stage this exercise will also give learners insight into how the angles of a polygon is calculated.

Crafts and mathematics
As a mathematics tutor I often found that learners experienced great difficulty in conceptualizing mathematical principles because they did not have the practical experience needed to understand the concepts. I believe crafts is essential in giving learners these experiences. Crafts also have the advantage of illustrating to learners the practical application of mathematics. In the following post I will give some examples of crafts that will prepare learners for specific mathematical concepts.

Multiplication and making flowers
I found that the times tables that learners had most difficulty to memorize, were the 6, 7 and 8 times tables. One craft example that one can use to teach these tables is by making petals for flowers. Each flower can have 6, 7 or 8 petals depending on which table you are teaching. The number of flowers you make will depend on the number that you are multiplying with in that table. The petals can be made in many different ways like cutting them out of paper or fabric etc. In my example I will use petals that are made with quilling.

Requirements:
• About 100 strips of shredded paper per student. It is tedious to cut these strips by hand and I suggest that you ask someone to put your paper through their shredder if you do not have one. Any paper that is 28cm or longer will do. The longer the paper the bigger the flower can be. In my example I used a newspaper.
• Although a quilling tool makes it easier to roll the paper up, a toothpick can also be used.
• Paper or cardboard on which they will glue the flowers.
• School glue.
Method:
• Choose 2 specific numbers that you wish the learners have to multiply like 7X8. Explain to the learners that they have to make 7 flowers with 8 petals each.
• Make the centres of the 7 flowers by quilling 7 round shapes.
• Help learners to calculate how many petals they will have to make by adding 8 seven times.
• Let the learner make 56 teardrop quilling shapes. They can sort them into groups of 8 as they make them to help them keep track of how many they have made.
• Learners are now free to arrange the flowers on their board as they please and glue them down.
• They can add stems and leaves or decorate them further as they please.

Here is a fun exercise to introduce learners to variables. Note it will require a tutor to set it up and monitor. The game is designed for 2 players but can easily be expanded to include more players:
You will need a scoreboard, 4 non-transparent (opaque) containers with lids, several markers (this can be either pieces of paper or the lids can be used with non permanent felt pens) and about 20 small objects like buttons, pebbles, raisins etc.
In the first container place 5 small objects. Mark
this container with an X. Place 7 small objects in the 2nd container and mark it as X+2 without the players seeing what is placed in them.
Player 1 is given the container with an X and players 2 the container with X+2.
Each player opens their container and counts the number of objects in it without revealing to the other player how many they have. The players then have to try to work out how many the other player has. The first one who is correct scores 1 point.
Repeat the game a couple of times by alternating the 2 containers between the players and using the following table to fill the containers:
Container 1: X = 8, Container 2: X-5=3
Container 1: X=6, Container 2: X+4=10
Container 1: X= 12, Container 2: X-7=5
Container 1: X+1=5, Container 2: X+2= 6
Container 1: X-3=4, Container 2: X-2=5
Container 1: X+2=9, Container 2: X-2=5

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Fractions don't need to be a problem to learners. Here are a few ideas on how to introduce them to learners.

Remember that the younger the learners are, the less worldly experience they have and the more instruction they need for learning. However older learners should be given more room to experiment and do their own research. The function of teachers of older learners is more inspirational and providing an environment that stimulates interest.

What Mathematics teach us about dealing with problems:
• to persevere when problems are difficult
• that it is alright to admit when we cannot find the solution
• to learn from our mistakes
• that there is no shame in asking for help rather than give up
• there is always an answer
• that the reward of our effort is sweet