A new school semester is quickly approaching and one thing is for certain. College students continue to struggle with their math courses. They find math a difficult subject often times having trouble with problems ranging from statistics to the metric conversion table. One way to resolve this issue is to ask for the assistance of a math tutor.
Math tutors provide a great solution to many of the troubles college students find in their courses. Difficulty with math is a major issue, especially when there is such a strong emphasis getting good grades for job placement. Math tests on metric measurements, for example, create terrible anxiety, and many students have no choice but to ask for outside help in order to gain confidence in absorbing material such as weight conversion and length conversion. Tutors develop learning problems and put together personalized instructional programs.
A tutor offers students the chance to sit and receive individualized instruction on work they may be having trouble with such as the metric conversion calculator. No student’s learning curve is the same and each has different needs. Often large classrooms can’t accommodate an individual student’s type of learning. I know many strong students who have received help from a tutor in order to pass a difficult test on length conversion and weight conversion.
Most tutors can be found simply by asking for recommendations from friends and family who may know someone who tutors. Your school most likely also can recommend a tutor as well based on the type of subject matter you need help with such as metric measurements. Most colleges actually post available tutors on their job boards. I have even seen retired or part time teachers offering tutoring as a way to make some extra money.
It is important that your tutor has professional training or enough experience in the subject matter at the level of difficulty you need to learn. If your tutor doesn’t understand some of the metric conversion table concepts, how can they properly teach it? The tutor’s job is to teach the major concepts and problem solving strategies of the specific subject matter. For younger students, helping with homework may be enough, but in most cases, a tutor that can help change the way a student approaches problems is preferable. You would like for the student to understand the concepts of a metric conversion calculator instead of just doing homework from it.
Ultimately, your tutor must refine all of your skills from test taking, studying and self-confidence. They provide a strong structure so you get the proper practice that excelling at math requires through a productive work routine. Tutoring time should be viewed as positive and supportive.
By: Anne Harvester
Archive for March, 2010
Overcoming a Difficult Math Course Through a Math Tutor Program
March 30th, 2010Math Puzzles
March 29th, 2010
Most of the kids in school dread a math test. I know many students who would rather prefer to get their cavities filled then take a math test in school. But why is that? Why do students fear this subject so much? Well, the reason is more of psychological then academic. Kids love to study when they are having fun. They also like to study subjects which come easy to them and in most schools; math is the subject that doesn’t come in any of these two categories.
Therefore, it is very important to make math fun for the students. Doesn’t matter if you are a parent or a teacher, it is very important to hold the child’s attention and make him have fun with it. This is where math puzzles are a great help.
Math puzzles don’t only make learning and teaching math interesting, but it also motivates children to do better in other subjects as well. Most children who would rather play a computer game then go to a math class, so why not mix these two together?
You can provide the child with various maths puzzles which he can play and practice the fields he is weak at. Math puzzles don’t teach students anything new, but they help strengthen their basic concepts and build a solid foundation for their future classes. These puzzles help teachers to teach the weaker students in class. For example, if some students in a class are not clear with some basic concepts of math like subtraction or addition, then in order to make the catch up with the rest of the class the teacher will need to give them more attention. But this will make the rest of the class. But if the teacher provides the weaker students with some quick learning math puzzles, they can learn without wasting class’ time.
Math puzzles also instill the urge to study and learn independently. Instead of being dependent on somebody else’s attention to study, math puzzles give the students freedom to work on their own. This aspect of such puzzles also helps kids who are shy or feel embarrassed to discuss their weaknesses in public.
But don’t think that math puzzles are only for weak students. You can also use math puzzles for students who are good at it. These puzzles work as a great practice tool and also a confidence booster. While shopping for math puzzles, you should first decide on which type of puzzle you would like to provide the child with. There is a wide range of math puzzles like arcade style, puzzle style and normal question answer style games.
You can also buy games which include favorite cartoon or movie characters of the child. Make sure that the puzzles hold some element of interest for the child as he will only practice it if he feels attracted towards it.
But never take these games as a substitute for a teacher or parental guidance in teaching math. Math puzzles only help students to brush up the skills they are already taught. The puzzles don’t teach students any new skills. So make sure that you are there for your child or student on his quest for learning math.
By: Derek De Bres
Advantages of Mathematics
March 28th, 2010
Many of us wondered about the advantages of Mathematics during our childhood days. Many of us were not able to comprehend the benefits of mathematics beyond the daily usage of calculating simple numbers. Let us see in detail what are some of the benefits of learning mathematics and marveling at this arduous subject at early age.
The importance of mathematics is two-fold, it is important in the advancement of science and two, it is important in our understanding of the workings of the universe. And in here and now it is important to individuals for personal development, both mentally and in the workplace.
Mathematics equips pupils with a uniquely powerful set of tools to understand and change the world. These tools include logical reasoning, problem-solving skills, and the ability to think in abstract ways. Mathematics is important in everyday life, many forms of employment, science and technology, medicine, the economy, the environment and development, and in public decision-making.
One should also be aware of the wide importance of Mathematics, and the way in which it is advancing at a spectacular rate. Mathematics is about pattern and structure; it is about logical analysis, deduction, calculation within these patterns and structures. When patterns are found, often in widely different areas of science and technology, the mathematics of these patterns can be used to explain and control natural happenings and situations. Mathematics has a pervasive influence on our everyday lives, and contributes to the wealth of the individual.
The study of mathematics can satisfy a wide range of interests and abilities. It develops the imagination. It trains in clear and logical thought. It is a challenge, with varieties of difficult ideas and unsolved problems, because it deals with the questions arising from complicated structures. Yet it also has a continuing drive to simplification, to finding the right concepts and methods to make difficult things easy, to explaining why a situation must be as it is. In so doing, it develops a range of language and insights, which may then be applied to make a crucial contribution to our understanding and appreciation of the world, and our ability to find and make our way in it.
Increasingly, employers are looking for graduates with strong skills in reasoning and problem solving – just the skills that are developed in a mathematics and statistics degree.
Let us look at a few examples. The computing industry employs mathematics graduates; indeed, many university computing courses are taught by mathematicians. Mathematics is used to create the complex programming at the heart of all computing. Also cryptography, a form of pure mathematics, is deployed to encode the millions of transactions made hourly via the Internet and when we use debit or credit cards. Mathematics and Computer Science is a popular degree choice, and four-year degrees with a placement in industry are also available. The latter give graduates plenty of relevant experience to increase their employability.
Mathematics led to the perfect ratios shown in Renaissance painting. The study of astronomy in the early times of its inception demanded the expansion of our understanding of mathematics and made possible such realizations as the size and weight of the earth, our distance from the sun, the fact that we revolve around it, and other discoveries that allowed us to move forward in our body of knowledge without which we would not have any of our modern marvels of technology.
The computer itself is a machine built upon the principles of mathematics, being an invention so important as to bring about an economic revolution of efficiency in data communication and processing.
By: Shilpa Rao
