After Bedtime Books, Could Morning Math Be Next Education Success?

by Mike Smith · 2009-11-09 13:28:00 UTC
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An intriguing idea to improve math skills among children needn't come from advances in modern technology, or from hundred-billion dollar reform. It can instead come from home. Lisa Guernsey, the director of the early education initiative at the non-profit New America Foundation (and a mom), explained to the Washington Post: "If bedtime is book time, let's make morning time for math."

Math scores are stagnating, but Lisa Guernsey believes parents can make a significant difference by simply including math in a morning routine: "Ask your 8-year-old to pour the juice so that the glasses are 75 percent full. Aha. A good opening for a chat about fractions," she explains. It should be obvious that engaging parents leads to improved success, but exactly how this can be best accomplished hasn't been so clear. Engaging students in the morning could significantly improve a huge numbers of kids' math.

At an early age my parents, both teachers, gave me additional math work-books to work through, eventually moving me up to many years above my grade-level. I enjoyed plowing through the books, and even insisted on taking them on holiday. I didn't take to math in college, but all my life this ability at arithmetic served me well, it made understanding other subjects a breeze, and gave me a huge confidence boost. But of course, that isn't just an indication that math skills were natural to me, but that something else had taught me to pay attention and be able to repress distractions and focus; that might be where the arts come in.

Photo credit: Sam Crockett

Mike Smith is associate editor at Change.org.
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