Integers, both positive and negative, seem to cause many students of all ages, elementary, secondary, and even adult learners issues with the understanding of how to add and subtract them correctly. Concrete examples teachers can use to explain these operations are a struggle throughout all levels of education. Watertank Math is going to be the standard way to teach integer operations from elementary all the way to adult learners, as it will be a concrete way to illustrate the concept visually, literately, and finally make sense symbolically with all the traditional math expressions. As a teacher myself, I was always trying to come up with a way to relate all the symbolic representations of adding and subtracting integers to my students. Often I found myself trying a new way to explain these operations because no matter what I came up with one time, it either failed with certain expressions or was not an explanation all my students were able to relate to the next time I tried to explain the concepts. At some point adding and subtracting apples, puppy dogs, textbooks, lunch money, or even yard lines on a football field was not able to work across all the facets of adding and subtracting different integer values. In using Watertank Math to explain how to add and subtract integer values the teacher is now able to relate an activity everyone in the world goes through everyday. Not only, but at an early age there is a high emotional connection to the activity, which in turn helps every student recall this process. Have you guessed it? Using the toilet is one of the first accomplishments of a youngsters life and with the understanding of how the house hold item works every kid can connect adding and subtracting using the Watertank Math principles. Something every person uses on a daily basis, a concept which at a young age involves emotions in learning how to use, and the ease of understanding so a teacher can relate real world situations to their students, these are all reasons why Watertank Math will help students learn adding and subtracting in a new way, a way they will never forget!
