Mental Math
Mental math is a critical component to a balanced math program. Sadly, many teachers are leaving this crucial piece out or are not using it to maximize student learning potential.
Most educators associate mental math with basic fact memorization and practice. Mental mathematics is an outcome of being able to manipulate numbers by finding patterns and using strategies to make a process easier and quicker. Therefore, teachers must teach strategies to aid mental math.
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Importance of Mental Math
Knowing how to correctly manipulate numbers in our head reinforces number sense. Without a strong foundation in number sense, students will be at a disadvantage in all areas of mathematics. Number sense incorporates the themes of place value, measurement, estimation, and the ability to understand how numbers work. When this foundation is in place, all math processes become much more simple and then the “speed factor” of mental math begins to make sense.
Also, when we teach our students how to do math in their heads, we are reinforcing concepts of patterns, which is how our brains learn best. This is turn will lead to connections between numbers, which will then lead to easier memorization of math facts.
We want our students to be “nimble with numbers.”
So how should you teach it?
How To Teach Mental Math
Teaching mental math is more than simply stringing together a random group of numbers and asking students to come up with the correct answer. To correctly teach these processes, teachers need to focus on teaching conceptual understanding of mathematical processes. The speed comes later as a by-product of being able to do “math in your head.”
There should be about five minutes of practice every day, but mental math can also be done anywhere, anytime.
Look for ways to incorporate mental Base Ten strategies into your daily math routine: skip counting backwards and forwards by 2s, 5s, and 10s, subtracting the same number multiple times, making a 10 for addition facts (13 + 9 can be thought of as (9 + 1) + 12 = 22. You can also teach the use of doubles plus one or more, such as 7 + 6 = 6 + 6 + 1.
These lessons can be brought forward into higher math skills. Make both numbers a multiple of 10. Round the numbers to multiples of 10, which makes them easy to work with, such as 240 + 650. (Note: You are not teaching rounding here – you are teaching a mental math strategy!) Remember as well that it is the frequency of practice that strengthens retention, not the length of the practice session. Brief daily practicing of skills lead to success. Teaching students to use a variety of strategies is pointless if teachers do not provide enough opportunity for students to practice with integrity, repetition and experience success.
What About Timed Tests?
There is nothing inherently wrong with timed tests if your students feel confident in working with numbers. If this is the case, timed tests serve their purpose which is to increase the speed with which we perform mental calculations.
If your students cannot quickly solve their facts, then they are missing a conceptual piece and no amount of timed tests is going to change that. Teachers must intervene and teach different strategies, get out the manipulatives, and talk to their students about their mathematical thinking and reasoning. There is no point to doing timed tests at this stage, other than to reinforce to some children that they hate math and cannot ever be good enough to pass a timed test. Try to incorporate daily mental math. When done correctly, the growth in number sense and understanding of how numbers work is phenomenal.