Summertime Provides Children With Ample Opportunities to Reinforce Math Skills
Studies have shown that school children lose up to three months worth of math education each year during summer vacation. This effect, known as “Brain Drain,” can be minimized by integrating math into daily activities. Summertime provides ample opportunities for children to exercise their math muscles, both through play and real world experiences. How can parents help their children identify and take advantage of these opportunities?
Columbus, OH (PRWEB) August 1, 2006 –
Brain Drain occurs over the summer months when children’s math skills atrophy from disuse. While many parents are aware of the Brain Drain effect, few are aware of the simple steps that can be taken to minimize or avoid it. “In order to achieve math fluency, children need to use their math skills daily,” notes Maria Spencer, co-founder of Ion Development (www. ion-development. com) – an online store whose mission is to promote math and science education among school-aged children. “Summertime provides an abundance of math opportunities, but parents rarely inspire their children to explore them,” Ms. Spencer explains.
One way to integrate math into your child’s daily activities is to involve your child in purchasing decisions. For example, when your child asks to see the most recent summer blockbuster, explain that you have only $25 to spend, that you will need to buy two tickets for $6.50 each and that you would like to have popcorn and a drink. Explain that a small bag of popcorn costs $2.75, a large bag of popcorn is $4.50 and a small drink is $2.00. Offer to let your child use the left over change, if any, to play video games while you wait for the movie to start or to buy something after the movie. By applying her math skills, your child can increase the amount of left over change by sharing the large popcorn with you or simply forgoing her own popcorn and/or drink. This sort of real world, math-based, cost/benefit analysis not only helps to reinforce math skills but also builds long-term math confidence.
Another means of reinforcing math skills over the summer months is to engage your child in math games. The games do not have to be complex or expensive to exercise your child’s math muscles. “A game of license plate math while traveling can be simple or challenging, depending on what rules your family uses,” Ms. Spencer explains. In its simplest form, license plate math requires you to identify a car and try to be the first person to correctly add together the numbers on its license plate. Math themed board and tabletop games are also valuable tools for reinforcing math skills over the summer months, and Ion Development is holding its Stop the Brain Drain Sale throughout the month of August, with 10% off all math toys and games. “Award winning games such as Learning Resources’ Dino Math Tracks and Factor Frenzy target specific math skills such as addition, subtraction and multiplication, while traditional games such as Chess develop broader mathematical techniques such as problem-solving and spatial reasoning,” Spencer explains.
While the summer months are a particularly critical time for parents to take an active role in their child’s math education, parents should make an effort to provide math opportunities throughout the year. Math games and toys together with real world experiences can be used in fun and creative ways to help your child retain math skills over the summer and to develop a positive, life-long attitude towards math. Just remember to keep it fun!
About Ion Development
Ion Development is an online retailer providing educational products that encourage children to explore math and science. The company is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.
For more information, contact Maria Spencer at www. ion-development. com
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