subject: Should Your Children Learn Tables Using Tricks From The Internet Or Learn The Times Tables Properly? [print this page] When you search the internet you will find lots of maths tricks to help your children learn tables.
Rather than being a help to your children they are often a barrier to the effort to learn tables in such a way that they can be recalled without thinking about the answer.
Here is an instance of what I mean, a times tables trick that is fun, yes, but also a barrier to learning at the same time.
It is the Nine Times Tables Trick and involves counting fingers to give the answer to the nine times tables
Ask your children to put their hands in front of them with the backs of the hands facing them.
Let's say you were doing two times nine. Two nines are eighteen.
Count from your far left finger in to the second finger and drop this finger down.
How many fingers are you left with?
On the left of the finger you folded down there is one finger, that is the little finger, and to the right of the finger you put down you will see eight fingers.
So, one finger and eight fingers. One and eight which is what number? Yes, eighteen, the answer to two times nine.Here is the trick being used again.
Can you tell me the answer to four times nine? You know that it is thirty six.So to the trick;
From your left little finger count in four, one is the little finger. Fold this fourth finger down.
What have you got to the left of the finger you put down? Yes, there are three.
To the right of the finger you put down there are how many standing? The answer is six.
So, three fingers and six fingers. Three and six which is what number? Yes, thirty six,
The answer to four times nine is thirty six.Easy?
You can do this for the other nine times tables up to ten times but there are problems with it.
1. The trick can only be used for the nine times tables which means that if you are using tricks a whole range need to be learned for other times tables.
2. Each time you have to use fingers to work out a new answer so it is not an Instant Recall method to learn tables.
My friend's son loves this trick and didn't want to learn any other way for these tables.
This is a stumbling block when it stops children from learning something better.
So if your children have this attitude what can you do? No doubt you could say many things when it comes to other maths tricks but here is one idea to do with the nine times tables trick.
Once upon a time my granddaughter asked me to play a game with her that involved throwing a ball to each other saying the tables.
It turned out that this game was brilliant for emphasizing to children that they had to learn tables properly.
To play the catching game for the nine times tables successfully you must know the tables automatically.
Why? Well you can't play the game and use your fingers to work out the answers.With this catching game you can show your children how important it is for them to know the nine times tables answers instantly.
The important thing is that your children learn tables using altechnique that embeds the answers in their memories so that know the answers immediately.
