Math Games

When I was growing up I do not remember ever playing with a toy that had to deal with math. The only learning game I can recall is where you put the different shapes into the correct hole that matches that shape. Today there are so many different learning games that teach children basic math skills. For example the Leap Frog. I always see little children playing with it. I have seen somewhere it is an actual stuffed animal frog that talks to you, and also ones that are like a mini computer. I think that it was a brilliant idea for whoever thought of it. It is not only entertaining children, but teaching them as well. My younger brother who is now 14 years old used to have a leap frog computer that he loved. His favorite section was the math part and today he is better at math then I will ever be. I am not saying that it made him ten times smarter, but I am sure that it helped him at a younger age. Today my brother still plays math games on the computer and competes with his friends. I also have a cousin who is 2 years old and has the stuffed animal frog who talks. He loves his "froggie" as he would say and repeats everything he says. He goes around the house saying "2+2=4 Yahhhh Good Job." This is a good thing because he will always have it in his head that 2+2=4. Today companies are making more and more toys that have math and all types of learning skills.  This will hopefully improve students in the future with all test scores and just being able to memorize math equations like I myself am not able to do so well. However I believe that is because I lived in Florida until I was 8 years old, which made me in second grade. I did not learn any math skills until I moved to New York where all the other students were able to multiply and divide, where I was just learning how to add and subtract. This was a huge disadvantage for me and some how I had to catch up. Because I was so behind, they ended up putting me in "special ed." in which I was only in there for 3 months. I caught on to things pretty quick. My favorite thing we would do in class was the Mad Minute quiz with adding and subtracting. I was always the first student done and they realized that I should be in the regular class now. What upsets me is that this could be happening to other students as well who move to a different state. It is known that Southern schools are a little slower than others and it should not be that way. There needs to be a change in this for not only students who move, but for students who are being taught at a later and slower rate.

TV Shows With Math

When I was in the eleventh grade, every day for a week my teacher had us watch a TV show called Numb3ers. It is a show where they have to solve real life problems and crimes with math. Unfortunately I did not care for the show and thought it was somewhat boring, but I do know people who are a fan. Since we started watching it in class, one of my friends who is not a big fan of math still enjoys the show. She said that it is making her like math in a sense. As for me on the other hand that is not going to happen. The show Numb3rs begins each week with:

We all use math every day;
to predict weather, to tell time, to handle money.
Math is more than formulas or equations;
it's logic, its rationality,
it's using your mind to solve the biggest mysteries we know.

There are also kid shows that have  math in them. For example on Disney channel Kim Possible. At school, Kim and Ron have to write a report about their hero. Kim is going to do her report on her dad but, Ron does not know who to do his report on. He decides to do it on Hego, but Ron’s dad wants Ron to do it on him. Meanwhile Kim, Ron, and Hego are dealing with a new math villain, the Mathter. The Mathter zaps Ron with a beam so that whatever he touches explodes, so to prevent from exploding he wears a gigantic bubble. When on their way to stop the Mathter and turn Ron back to normal, Ron's dad comes along to help. Ron's dad stops the Mathter and they turn Ron back to normal. Ron gets an A+ on his report. 

Another TV show for kids that helps with math is Sesame Street. This season of Sesame Street, they added a few new things to its usual mix of song, dance and educational lessons.

In its 42nd season, the preschool educational series is tackling math, science, technology and engineering. All problem areas for America's students in hopes of helping kids measure up.

Carol Lynn Parente, the show's executive producer, said that 2-year-olds were more than ready for engineering experiments. According to the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment, among 65 industrialized nations, 15 year olds in the United States placed 30th in math.

For 30 years, researchers have studied what has been coined the "Sesame effect," in which they found that exposure to the program as a preschooler equaled higher achievement in high school.

Frequent viewers even earned better grades in English, math and science and had a higher grade point average than non viewers.As I child I never even once watched Sesame Street for some reason. I guess my Mom just never put it on for me. Today, I wish I would have watched it because of how good of a show it is for children and the out come it can bring when it comes to school. I watched a video with Elmo showing flash cards with math problems and how effective it was. He really broke it down and explained what he was teaching you. One day when I have children, I will have them watch Sesame Street so they can learn math at an early age and hopefully like math and be good at it!

Mathophobia

How I know that I a mathophobe is by waited until the very end to take any math class. I wanted to put it to off for as long as I could and when they said okay it is time for that math class, I said Oh Boy... I guess if i have to. Another reason I know I am a mathophobe is because on the first day of class we took a quiz called "Are You a mathophobe?" It had several different questions like the first one was my first. It said "when I said you would be taking a math quiz now, you: A. took a deep breath and will just do the best you can. B. tenses up- math is a 4 letter word but you'll try C. panic- you know you won't get anything right. When I heard the word test or quiz I get so nervous because I am afraid that I will not know the material and get a bad grade. I have always tried very hard in school, but when it comes to math, I just do not like it. I feel like if I was better at it then maybe I may like it. However, I am not good at it so that is the main reason why I am not a fan. Even though I do not like math very much, once I am a teacher I do not want to be one of those teachers who change your whole outlook on a subject just because they have a bad attitude towards it. I have had teachers who focus on other subjects, trying to avoid math. As students we did the same thing because we learn what we see. If we see our teacher not liking math then why should we. Your elementary years are where mathophobe can begin. That is where it started for me. I had a great kindergarten and first grade teacher, after that it went downhill. Their teaching was not fun and they made math boring and not “cool”. There was a point where only the smart kids were good at math, and everyone else was just normal. Today I am such a mathophobe because I want to teach first or second grade and not go any higher because then the math is becoming too much. Not saying that it is hard in elementary school, but just the thought of it makes me unhappy. My current job right now, I work at a jewelry store where math is done at every sale. Whatever the price is we always have to take a certain percentage off depending on the piece. My boss is always getting mad at me because I always have to use a calculator and take too long to figure it out. He jokes and says did you always do bad in math during school, and I respond saying YES it was one of my worst subjects because I do not like it and I still am not good and therefore still do not like it. Hopefully one day that will change, but before it does I think I have to get good at it first!