why is math homework important

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Math homework: why is it so important.

Math plays an essential role in life, whether we know it or not. From engineering and architecture to shopping and cooking, math is used every single day. 

Yet children and teenagers, when faced with the option to either do their math homework or watch TV, will most likely choose the latter. That’s quite understandable at their age! Yet they may not realize the benefits math homework provides – not only for their education but also for success in future endeavors. In fact, ninety-four percent of jobs use math in some way, shape or form. Here are five reasons why math homework is beneficial to all students.

1.Cultivates critical thinking skills

Down to its basics, math presents problems that engage our critical thinking skills. Math motivates students to make sense of problems using context and reasoning, creating a purposeful and fulfilling learning experience. In one particular study, researchers found that high school students, who focused more on memory and critical thinking, received higher PSAT scores than those who relied on their calculators more.

In applying their minds more than physical resources, students grow invaluable critical thinking skills and, consequently, achieve optimal results. Math homework trains students to do so, enriching their learning experience in discovering meaningful solutions through creative exploration.

2. Improves problem-solving skills

Math homework develops mental agility, combining both memory and logic towards solving problems. In regularly completing math homework, students strengthen their ability to retain large amounts of information to solve math problems. When they acquire and hone in on that ability, such can branch into other decisions in life! International foundation for education, UNESCO, stated that powerful mathematical skills are best established when applying problem-solving skills, becoming one of the most efficient methods to solve challenges outside of mathematics.

With this in mind, practicing problem-solving through math homework will become second nature for students to pinpoint criteria into making a thoughtful judgment. Their problem-solving ability, stemming from doing homework, will better prepare them in fulfilling the expectations of the workforce and a constantly evolving world.

3. Prepares you for exams

Successfully completing math homework on a regular basis indicates that students understand the materials covered in class. It’s reflected in their exams, as homework provides ease into solving the math presented. In fact, a study had shown that students, who completed their homework, displayed higher results on tests and grades than sixty-nine percent who didn’t. 

In becoming efficient at completing math homework, students gain more confidence in studying and passing their exams with flying colours. With that gained confidence, they become more knowledgeable and capable of the subject at hand. 

Think of it this way: math homework helps to strengthen knowledge in skills and study for careers a student might be interested in. Medical scientists, for example, utilize data calculations in testing out hypotheses to ensure safe doses of medicine. If they didn’t study well in school, would you trust the medicine they prescribe?

4. Promotes individual learning and self-discipline

Math homework encourages a motivated approach in independently solving problems, as only a fraction of the information taught in class is absorbed by students. Typically only fifty percent is retained, indicating that students must apply that information to cement their understanding. Through this process, students develop research skills, time management, and self-discipline in order to successfully complete their homework. 

In cementing an understanding through research avenues like afterschool programs and online help, students are able to collect and analyze data from reliable sources. They then use these sources to tailor their own path in solving math. Homework deadlines also motivate students to achieve optimal results within a reasonable time frame, learning to prioritize tasks and eliminating procrastination. Research from The High School Journal discovered that, in the study, students who spent at least 31 minutes reviewing their homework scored considerably higher on SAT-Mathematics than those who paid assignments no mind. 

Diligence in completing math homework reinforces initiative and time management – two characteristics many employers look for. With such skills, students are given leverage not only in the short term of school but in the long term of securing their ideal career.

5. Fosters pride in achievement

Despite the complexities students may face in math concepts, math itself is a universal language that typically has the right answer. When students use their memory, critical thinking, and research skills to solve a hard math problem, finding its answer instills pride and confidence within them. Then their personal responsibility in finding all the answers in their math homework is fulfilled, giving them a sense of accomplishment, a deeper understanding and a well-deserved pat on the back.

It’s like completing a puzzle with thousands of pieces. Once you put them all together, you can see the full picture, marveling at what your hard work has created.

Math homework is not only vital in excelling in education but in developing essential life skills like critical thinking, initiative, and responsibility. At MathProject , we motivate students to achieve those skills, instilling confidence in math with our uniquely designed curriculum . Empower your children with mathematical knowledge and excellence by contacting us today at 1-844-628-424, and book a free assessment ! For more information on MathProject’s math tutoring programs in Mississauga, Brampton and Oakville, visit ‘Our Programs’ page.

Check out what other parents have to say about us, here !

Citations: Why Math Homework is Important – homeworkdoer.org Some Interesting Reasons Why You Should Like Math Homework – starttws.com If There Was No Homework: An Interesting Viewpoint – transatlanticstudies.org Why Is Homework Important – college-homework-help.org Is Homework Beneficial? – procon.org Math and Memory – psychologytoday.com 28 Jobs for Math Majors That Offer Awesome Opportunities – trade-schools.net Mathematica – mathematica.ca

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Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

A conversation with a Wheelock researcher, a BU student, and a fourth-grade teacher

“Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives,” says Wheelock’s Janine Bempechat. “It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.” Photo by iStock/Glenn Cook Photography

Do your homework.

If only it were that simple.

Educators have debated the merits of homework since the late 19th century. In recent years, amid concerns of some parents and teachers that children are being stressed out by too much homework, things have only gotten more fraught.

“Homework is complicated,” says developmental psychologist Janine Bempechat, a Wheelock College of Education & Human Development clinical professor. The author of the essay “ The Case for (Quality) Homework—Why It Improves Learning and How Parents Can Help ” in the winter 2019 issue of Education Next , Bempechat has studied how the debate about homework is influencing teacher preparation, parent and student beliefs about learning, and school policies.

She worries especially about socioeconomically disadvantaged students from low-performing schools who, according to research by Bempechat and others, get little or no homework.

BU Today  sat down with Bempechat and Erin Bruce (Wheelock’17,’18), a new fourth-grade teacher at a suburban Boston school, and future teacher freshman Emma Ardizzone (Wheelock) to talk about what quality homework looks like, how it can help children learn, and how schools can equip teachers to design it, evaluate it, and facilitate parents’ role in it.

BU Today: Parents and educators who are against homework in elementary school say there is no research definitively linking it to academic performance for kids in the early grades. You’ve said that they’re missing the point.

Bempechat : I think teachers assign homework in elementary school as a way to help kids develop skills they’ll need when they’re older—to begin to instill a sense of responsibility and to learn planning and organizational skills. That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success. If we greatly reduce or eliminate homework in elementary school, we deprive kids and parents of opportunities to instill these important learning habits and skills.

We do know that beginning in late middle school, and continuing through high school, there is a strong and positive correlation between homework completion and academic success.

That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success.

You talk about the importance of quality homework. What is that?

Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives. It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.

What are your concerns about homework and low-income children?

The argument that some people make—that homework “punishes the poor” because lower-income parents may not be as well-equipped as affluent parents to help their children with homework—is very troubling to me. There are no parents who don’t care about their children’s learning. Parents don’t actually have to help with homework completion in order for kids to do well. They can help in other ways—by helping children organize a study space, providing snacks, being there as a support, helping children work in groups with siblings or friends.

Isn’t the discussion about getting rid of homework happening mostly in affluent communities?

Yes, and the stories we hear of kids being stressed out from too much homework—four or five hours of homework a night—are real. That’s problematic for physical and mental health and overall well-being. But the research shows that higher-income students get a lot more homework than lower-income kids.

Teachers may not have as high expectations for lower-income children. Schools should bear responsibility for providing supports for kids to be able to get their homework done—after-school clubs, community support, peer group support. It does kids a disservice when our expectations are lower for them.

The conversation around homework is to some extent a social class and social justice issue. If we eliminate homework for all children because affluent children have too much, we’re really doing a disservice to low-income children. They need the challenge, and every student can rise to the challenge with enough supports in place.

What did you learn by studying how education schools are preparing future teachers to handle homework?

My colleague, Margarita Jimenez-Silva, at the University of California, Davis, School of Education, and I interviewed faculty members at education schools, as well as supervising teachers, to find out how students are being prepared. And it seemed that they weren’t. There didn’t seem to be any readings on the research, or conversations on what high-quality homework is and how to design it.

Erin, what kind of training did you get in handling homework?

Bruce : I had phenomenal professors at Wheelock, but homework just didn’t come up. I did lots of student teaching. I’ve been in classrooms where the teachers didn’t assign any homework, and I’ve been in rooms where they assigned hours of homework a night. But I never even considered homework as something that was my decision. I just thought it was something I’d pull out of a book and it’d be done.

I started giving homework on the first night of school this year. My first assignment was to go home and draw a picture of the room where you do your homework. I want to know if it’s at a table and if there are chairs around it and if mom’s cooking dinner while you’re doing homework.

The second night I asked them to talk to a grown-up about how are you going to be able to get your homework done during the week. The kids really enjoyed it. There’s a running joke that I’m teaching life skills.

Friday nights, I read all my kids’ responses to me on their homework from the week and it’s wonderful. They pour their hearts out. It’s like we’re having a conversation on my couch Friday night.

It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Bempechat : I can’t imagine that most new teachers would have the intuition Erin had in designing homework the way she did.

Ardizzone : Conversations with kids about homework, feeling you’re being listened to—that’s such a big part of wanting to do homework….I grew up in Westchester County. It was a pretty demanding school district. My junior year English teacher—I loved her—she would give us feedback, have meetings with all of us. She’d say, “If you have any questions, if you have anything you want to talk about, you can talk to me, here are my office hours.” It felt like she actually cared.

Bempechat : It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Ardizzone : But can’t it lead to parents being overbearing and too involved in their children’s lives as students?

Bempechat : There’s good help and there’s bad help. The bad help is what you’re describing—when parents hover inappropriately, when they micromanage, when they see their children confused and struggling and tell them what to do.

Good help is when parents recognize there’s a struggle going on and instead ask informative questions: “Where do you think you went wrong?” They give hints, or pointers, rather than saying, “You missed this,” or “You didn’t read that.”

Bruce : I hope something comes of this. I hope BU or Wheelock can think of some way to make this a more pressing issue. As a first-year teacher, it was not something I even thought about on the first day of school—until a kid raised his hand and said, “Do we have homework?” It would have been wonderful if I’d had a plan from day one.

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Senior Contributing Editor

Sara Rimer A journalist for more than three decades, Sara Rimer worked at the Miami Herald , Washington Post and, for 26 years, the New York Times , where she was the New England bureau chief, and a national reporter covering education, aging, immigration, and other social justice issues. Her stories on the death penalty’s inequities were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and cited in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision outlawing the execution of people with intellectual disabilities. Her journalism honors include Columbia University’s Meyer Berger award for in-depth human interest reporting. She holds a BA degree in American Studies from the University of Michigan. Profile

She can be reached at [email protected] .

Comments & Discussion

Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.

There are 81 comments on Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

Insightful! The values about homework in elementary schools are well aligned with my intuition as a parent.

when i finish my work i do my homework and i sometimes forget what to do because i did not get enough sleep

same omg it does not help me it is stressful and if I have it in more than one class I hate it.

Same I think my parent wants to help me but, she doesn’t care if I get bad grades so I just try my best and my grades are great.

I think that last question about Good help from parents is not know to all parents, we do as our parents did or how we best think it can be done, so maybe coaching parents or giving them resources on how to help with homework would be very beneficial for the parent on how to help and for the teacher to have consistency and improve homework results, and of course for the child. I do see how homework helps reaffirm the knowledge obtained in the classroom, I also have the ability to see progress and it is a time I share with my kids

The answer to the headline question is a no-brainer – a more pressing problem is why there is a difference in how students from different cultures succeed. Perfect example is the student population at BU – why is there a majority population of Asian students and only about 3% black students at BU? In fact at some universities there are law suits by Asians to stop discrimination and quotas against admitting Asian students because the real truth is that as a group they are demonstrating better qualifications for admittance, while at the same time there are quotas and reduced requirements for black students to boost their portion of the student population because as a group they do more poorly in meeting admissions standards – and it is not about the Benjamins. The real problem is that in our PC society no one has the gazuntas to explore this issue as it may reveal that all people are not created equal after all. Or is it just environmental cultural differences??????

I get you have a concern about the issue but that is not even what the point of this article is about. If you have an issue please take this to the site we have and only post your opinion about the actual topic

This is not at all what the article is talking about.

This literally has nothing to do with the article brought up. You should really take your opinions somewhere else before you speak about something that doesn’t make sense.

we have the same name

so they have the same name what of it?

lol you tell her

totally agree

What does that have to do with homework, that is not what the article talks about AT ALL.

Yes, I think homework plays an important role in the development of student life. Through homework, students have to face challenges on a daily basis and they try to solve them quickly.I am an intense online tutor at 24x7homeworkhelp and I give homework to my students at that level in which they handle it easily.

More than two-thirds of students said they used alcohol and drugs, primarily marijuana, to cope with stress.

You know what’s funny? I got this assignment to write an argument for homework about homework and this article was really helpful and understandable, and I also agree with this article’s point of view.

I also got the same task as you! I was looking for some good resources and I found this! I really found this article useful and easy to understand, just like you! ^^

i think that homework is the best thing that a child can have on the school because it help them with their thinking and memory.

I am a child myself and i think homework is a terrific pass time because i can’t play video games during the week. It also helps me set goals.

Homework is not harmful ,but it will if there is too much

I feel like, from a minors point of view that we shouldn’t get homework. Not only is the homework stressful, but it takes us away from relaxing and being social. For example, me and my friends was supposed to hang at the mall last week but we had to postpone it since we all had some sort of work to do. Our minds shouldn’t be focused on finishing an assignment that in realty, doesn’t matter. I completely understand that we should have homework. I have to write a paper on the unimportance of homework so thanks.

homework isn’t that bad

Are you a student? if not then i don’t really think you know how much and how severe todays homework really is

i am a student and i do not enjoy homework because i practice my sport 4 out of the five days we have school for 4 hours and that’s not even counting the commute time or the fact i still have to shower and eat dinner when i get home. its draining!

i totally agree with you. these people are such boomers

why just why

they do make a really good point, i think that there should be a limit though. hours and hours of homework can be really stressful, and the extra work isn’t making a difference to our learning, but i do believe homework should be optional and extra credit. that would make it for students to not have the leaning stress of a assignment and if you have a low grade you you can catch up.

Studies show that homework improves student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college. Research published in the High School Journal indicates that students who spent between 31 and 90 minutes each day on homework “scored about 40 points higher on the SAT-Mathematics subtest than their peers, who reported spending no time on homework each day, on average.” On both standardized tests and grades, students in classes that were assigned homework outperformed 69% of students who didn’t have homework. A majority of studies on homework’s impact – 64% in one meta-study and 72% in another – showed that take home assignments were effective at improving academic achievement. Research by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) concluded that increased homework led to better GPAs and higher probability of college attendance for high school boys. In fact, boys who attended college did more than three hours of additional homework per week in high school.

So how are your measuring student achievement? That’s the real question. The argument that doing homework is simply a tool for teaching responsibility isn’t enough for me. We can teach responsibility in a number of ways. Also the poor argument that parents don’t need to help with homework, and that students can do it on their own, is wishful thinking at best. It completely ignores neurodiverse students. Students in poverty aren’t magically going to find a space to do homework, a friend’s or siblings to help them do it, and snacks to eat. I feel like the author of this piece has never set foot in a classroom of students.

THIS. This article is pathetic coming from a university. So intellectually dishonest, refusing to address the havoc of capitalism and poverty plays on academic success in life. How can they in one sentence use poor kids in an argument and never once address that poor children have access to damn near 0 of the resources affluent kids have? Draw me a picture and let’s talk about feelings lmao what a joke is that gonna put food in their belly so they can have the calories to burn in order to use their brain to study? What about quiet their 7 other siblings that they share a single bedroom with for hours? Is it gonna force the single mom to magically be at home and at work at the same time to cook food while you study and be there to throw an encouraging word?

Also the “parents don’t need to be a parent and be able to guide their kid at all academically they just need to exist in the next room” is wild. Its one thing if a parent straight up is not equipped but to say kids can just figured it out is…. wow coming from an educator What’s next the teacher doesn’t need to teach cause the kid can just follow the packet and figure it out?

Well then get a tutor right? Oh wait you are poor only affluent kids can afford a tutor for their hours of homework a day were they on average have none of the worries a poor child does. Does this address that poor children are more likely to also suffer abuse and mental illness? Like mentioned what about kids that can’t learn or comprehend the forced standardized way? Just let em fail? These children regularly are not in “special education”(some of those are a joke in their own and full of neglect and abuse) programs cause most aren’t even acknowledged as having disabilities or disorders.

But yes all and all those pesky poor kids just aren’t being worked hard enough lol pretty sure poor children’s existence just in childhood is more work, stress, and responsibility alone than an affluent child’s entire life cycle. Love they never once talked about the quality of education in the classroom being so bad between the poor and affluent it can qualify as segregation, just basically blamed poor people for being lazy, good job capitalism for failing us once again!

why the hell?

you should feel bad for saying this, this article can be helpful for people who has to write a essay about it

This is more of a political rant than it is about homework

I know a teacher who has told his students their homework is to find something they are interested in, pursue it and then come share what they learn. The student responses are quite compelling. One girl taught herself German so she could talk to her grandfather. One boy did a research project on Nelson Mandela because the teacher had mentioned him in class. Another boy, a both on the autism spectrum, fixed his family’s computer. The list goes on. This is fourth grade. I think students are highly motivated to learn, when we step aside and encourage them.

The whole point of homework is to give the students a chance to use the material that they have been presented with in class. If they never have the opportunity to use that information, and discover that it is actually useful, it will be in one ear and out the other. As a science teacher, it is critical that the students are challenged to use the material they have been presented with, which gives them the opportunity to actually think about it rather than regurgitate “facts”. Well designed homework forces the student to think conceptually, as opposed to regurgitation, which is never a pretty sight

Wonderful discussion. and yes, homework helps in learning and building skills in students.

not true it just causes kids to stress

Homework can be both beneficial and unuseful, if you will. There are students who are gifted in all subjects in school and ones with disabilities. Why should the students who are gifted get the lucky break, whereas the people who have disabilities suffer? The people who were born with this “gift” go through school with ease whereas people with disabilities struggle with the work given to them. I speak from experience because I am one of those students: the ones with disabilities. Homework doesn’t benefit “us”, it only tears us down and put us in an abyss of confusion and stress and hopelessness because we can’t learn as fast as others. Or we can’t handle the amount of work given whereas the gifted students go through it with ease. It just brings us down and makes us feel lost; because no mater what, it feels like we are destined to fail. It feels like we weren’t “cut out” for success.

homework does help

here is the thing though, if a child is shoved in the face with a whole ton of homework that isn’t really even considered homework it is assignments, it’s not helpful. the teacher should make homework more of a fun learning experience rather than something that is dreaded

This article was wonderful, I am going to ask my teachers about extra, or at all giving homework.

I agree. Especially when you have homework before an exam. Which is distasteful as you’ll need that time to study. It doesn’t make any sense, nor does us doing homework really matters as It’s just facts thrown at us.

Homework is too severe and is just too much for students, schools need to decrease the amount of homework. When teachers assign homework they forget that the students have other classes that give them the same amount of homework each day. Students need to work on social skills and life skills.

I disagree.

Beyond achievement, proponents of homework argue that it can have many other beneficial effects. They claim it can help students develop good study habits so they are ready to grow as their cognitive capacities mature. It can help students recognize that learning can occur at home as well as at school. Homework can foster independent learning and responsible character traits. And it can give parents an opportunity to see what’s going on at school and let them express positive attitudes toward achievement.

Homework is helpful because homework helps us by teaching us how to learn a specific topic.

As a student myself, I can say that I have almost never gotten the full 9 hours of recommended sleep time, because of homework. (Now I’m writing an essay on it in the middle of the night D=)

I am a 10 year old kid doing a report about “Is homework good or bad” for homework before i was going to do homework is bad but the sources from this site changed my mind!

Homeowkr is god for stusenrs

I agree with hunter because homework can be so stressful especially with this whole covid thing no one has time for homework and every one just wants to get back to there normal lives it is especially stressful when you go on a 2 week vaca 3 weeks into the new school year and and then less then a week after you come back from the vaca you are out for over a month because of covid and you have no way to get the assignment done and turned in

As great as homework is said to be in the is article, I feel like the viewpoint of the students was left out. Every where I go on the internet researching about this topic it almost always has interviews from teachers, professors, and the like. However isn’t that a little biased? Of course teachers are going to be for homework, they’re not the ones that have to stay up past midnight completing the homework from not just one class, but all of them. I just feel like this site is one-sided and you should include what the students of today think of spending four hours every night completing 6-8 classes worth of work.

Are we talking about homework or practice? Those are two very different things and can result in different outcomes.

Homework is a graded assignment. I do not know of research showing the benefits of graded assignments going home.

Practice; however, can be extremely beneficial, especially if there is some sort of feedback (not a grade but feedback). That feedback can come from the teacher, another student or even an automated grading program.

As a former band director, I assigned daily practice. I never once thought it would be appropriate for me to require the students to turn in a recording of their practice for me to grade. Instead, I had in-class assignments/assessments that were graded and directly related to the practice assigned.

I would really like to read articles on “homework” that truly distinguish between the two.

oof i feel bad good luck!

thank you guys for the artical because I have to finish an assingment. yes i did cite it but just thanks

thx for the article guys.

Homework is good

I think homework is helpful AND harmful. Sometimes u can’t get sleep bc of homework but it helps u practice for school too so idk.

I agree with this Article. And does anyone know when this was published. I would like to know.

It was published FEb 19, 2019.

Studies have shown that homework improved student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college.

i think homework can help kids but at the same time not help kids

This article is so out of touch with majority of homes it would be laughable if it wasn’t so incredibly sad.

There is no value to homework all it does is add stress to already stressed homes. Parents or adults magically having the time or energy to shepherd kids through homework is dome sort of 1950’s fantasy.

What lala land do these teachers live in?

Homework gives noting to the kid

Homework is Bad

homework is bad.

why do kids even have homework?

Comments are closed.

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Why Is Math Important? 9 Reasons Why Math Skills Improve Quality of Life

Written by Ashley Crowe

• Parent Resources

Why is math so important in life?

• 9 Benefits of a great math education

Why students struggle to master certain math concepts

• Set your child’s math skills up for life with Prodigy Math

Math isn't just an important subject in school — it’s essential for many of your daily tasks. You likely use it every day to perform real-life skills, like grocery shopping, cooking and tracking your finances. 

What makes math special is that it’s a universal language — a powerful tool with the same meaning across the globe. Though languages divide our world, numbers unite us. Math allows us to work together towards new innovations and ideas. 

In this post, learn why math is important for kids and adults. Plus, find out why learning even the most basic math can significantly improve your family’s quality of life.

You simply can’t make it through a day without using some sort of basic math. Here’s why.

A person needs an understanding of math, measurements and fractions to cook and bake. Many people may also use math to count calories or nutrients as part of their diet or exercise routine. 

You also need math to calculate when you should leave your house to arrive on time, or how much paint you need to redo your bedroom walls. 

And then the big one, money. Financial literacy is an incredibly important skill for adults to master. It can help you budget, save and even help you make big decisions like changing careers or buying a home. 

Mathematical knowledge may even be connected to many other not-so-obvious benefits. A strong foundation in math can translate into increased understanding and regulation of your emotions, improved memory and better problem-solving skills.

The importance of math: 9 benefits of a great math education

Math offers more opportunities beyond grade school, middle school and high school. Its applications to real-life scenarios are vast. 

Though many students sit in math class wondering when they’ll ever use these things they’re learning, we know there are many times their math skills will be needed in adulthood. 

The importance of mathematics to your child’s success can’t be overstated. Basic math is a necessity, but even abstract math can help hone critical thinking skills — even if your child chooses not to pursue a STEM-style career. Math can help them succeed professionally, emotionally and cognitively. Here’s why.

1. Math promotes healthy brain function

“Use it or lose it.” We hear this said about many skills, and math is no exception. 

Solving math problems and improving our math skills gives our brain a good workout. And it improves our cognitive skills over time. Many studies have shown that routinely practicing math keeps our brain healthy and functioning well.

2. Math improves problem-solving skills

At first, classic math problems like Johnny bringing home 42 watermelons and returning 13 of them can just seem a silly exercise. But all those math word problems our children solve really do improve their problem solving skills. Word problems teach kids how to pull out the important information and then manipulate it to find a solution.

Later on, complex life problems take the place of workbooks, but problem-solving still happens the same way. When students understand algorithms and problems more deeply, they can decode the facts and more easily solve the issue. Real-life solutions are found with math and logic.

3. Math supports logical reasoning and analytical thinking

A strong understanding of math concepts means more than just number sense. It helps us see the pathways to a solution. Equations and word problems need to be examined before determining the best method for solving them. And in many cases, there’s more than one way to get to the right answer. 

It’s no surprise that logical reasoning and analytical thinking improve alongside math skills. Logic skills are necessary at all levels of mathematical education.

4. Math develops flexible thinking and creativity

Practicing math has been shown to improve investigative skills, resourcefulness and creativity.

This is because math problems often require us to bend our thinking and approach problems in more than one way. The first process we try might not work. We need flexibility and creativity to think of new pathways to the solution. And just like anything else, this way of thinking is strengthened with practice.

5. Math opens up many different career paths

There are many careers that use a large number of math concepts. These include architects, accountants, and scientists. 

But many other professionals use math skills every day to complete their jobs. CEOs use math to analyze financials. Mailmen use it to calculate how long it will take them to walk their new route. Graphic designers use math to figure out the appropriate scale and proportions in their designs. 

No matter what career path your child chooses, math skills will be beneficial.

Math skills might become even more important for today's kids!

Math can certainly open up a lot of opportunities for many of us. But did you know that careers which heavily use math are going to be among the fastest-growing jobs by the time kids today start their careers? These jobs include:

• Statisticians
• Data scientists
• Software developers
• Cybersecurity analysts

It's not just STEM jobs that will require math either. Other popular, high-growth careers like nursing and teaching now ask for a minimum knowledge of college-level math.

6. Math may boost emotional health

While this research is still in its early days, what we have seen is promising. 

The parts of the brain used to solve math problems seem to work together with the parts of the brain that regulate emotions. This suggests that math practice can actually help us cope with difficult situations. In these studies, the better someone was with numerical calculations, the better they were at regulating fear and anger. Strong math skills may even be able to help treat anxiety and depression.

7. Math improves financial literacy

Though kids may not be managing their finances now, there's going to be plenty of times where math skills are going to make a massive difference in their life as an adult.

Budgeting and saving is a big one. Where can they cut back on their spending? How will budgeting help them reach their financial goals? Can they afford this new purchase now? 

As they age into adulthood, It will benefit your child to understand how loans and interest work before purchasing a house or car. They should fully grasp profits and losses before investing in the stock market. And they will likely need to evaluate job salaries and benefits before choosing their first job.

8. Math sharpens your memory

Learning mental math starts in elementary school. Students learn addition tables, then subtraction, multiplication and division tables. As they master those skills, they’ll begin to memorize more tips and tricks, like adding a zero to the end when multiplying by 10. Students will memorize algorithms and processes throughout their education. 

Using your memory often keeps it sharp. As your child grows and continues to use math skills in adulthood, their memory will remain in tip top shape.

9. Math teaches perseverance

“I can do it!’ 

These are words heard often from our toddlers. This phrase is a marker of growth, and a point of pride. But as your child moves into elementary school, you may not hear these words as often or with as much confidence as before. 

Learning math is great for teaching perseverance. With the right math instruction, your child can see their progress and once again feel that “I can do it” attitude. The rush of excitement a child experiences when they master a new concept sticks in their memory. And they can reflect back on it when they’re struggling with a new, harder skill. 

Even when things get tough, they’ll know they can keep trying and eventually overcome it — because they’ve done it before.

Tip: Set goals to inspire and motivate your child to learn math

If your child has a  Prodigy Math Membership , you can use your parent account to set learning goals for them to achieve as they play our online math game.

The best bit? Every time they complete a goal, they'll also get a special in-game reward!

Many students experience roadblocks and hurdles throughout their math education. You might recognize some of these math struggles below in your child. But don’t worry! Any struggle is manageable with the right support and help. Together, you and your child can tackle anything. 

Here are some of the most common math struggles. 

• Increasing complexity

Sometimes the pace of class moves a bit faster than your child can keep up with. Or the concepts are just too abstract and difficult for them to wrap their mind around in one lesson. Some math ideas simply take more time to learn. 

• Wrong teaching style

A good teaching style with plenty of practice is essential to a high-quality math education. If the teacher’s style doesn’t mesh well with how your child learns, math class can be challenging. 

• Fear of failure  

Even as adults, we can feel scared to fail. It’s no surprise that our children experience this same same fear, especially with the many other pressures school can bring. 

• Lack of practice  

Sometimes, all your child needs is a little more practice. But this can be easier said than done. You can help by providing them with plenty of support and encouragement to help them get that practice time in.

• Math anxiety

Algorithms and complex problems can strike anxiety in the heart of any child (and many adults). Math anxiety is a common phenomenon. But with the right coping strategies it can be managed. 

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Now we've discovered just how important math is in both our everyday and life decisions, let's set the next generation up for success with the right tools that'll help them learn math.

Prodigy Math is a game-based, online learning platform that makes learning math fun for kids. As kids play and explore a safe, virtual world filled with fun characters and pets to collect, they'll answer math questions. These questions are curriculum-aligned and powered by an adaptive algorithm that can help them master math skills more quickly.

Plus, with a free parent account , you'll also get to be a big part of their math education without needing to be a math genius. You'll get to:

• Easily keep up with their math learning with a monthly Report Card
• See how they're doing in math class when their teacher uses Prodigy Math
• Send them motivational messages to encourage their perseverance in math

Want to play an even bigger role in helping your child master math? Try our optional Math Memberships for extra in-game content for your child to enjoy and get amazing parent tools like the ability to set in-game goals and rewards for them to achieve.

See why Prodigy can make math fun below!

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6 Reasons Why Doing Math Homework Is Important

Let’s face it – most college and university undergrads don’t like the idea of doing home assignments. Moreover, if there’s an opportunity to choose between Netflix, hanging out with friends, enjoying your favorite cappuccino at Starbucks, or working on your homework, the majority of young men and women will choose…Well, they will choose anything but home assignments. Many students do not really understand how important it is to get those essays, readings, and math assignments done at home. However, the very moment they have to go out and find their first job, they realize that a good education is precious. Until then, you need to work on your habits to get a sense of discipline and prepare for the real world of your future career. 

In this article, we will cover the main reasons why math homework is an essential part of the academic routine, and why you have to get every other assignment done like a pro.

#1 Boost Your Thinking and Memory

In college, your ability to think logically and critically is a must if you’re going to succeed academically. What is more, it is also important to have good memory since you will have to deal with the huge amounts of information in class. Throughout your academic career, you will have to accomplish both the easiest and the toughest math assignments. Don’t skip them just because you are lazy, have no time, or are just not into math at all. Instead, enhance your thinking skills and focus on each assignment on the list.

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#2 exam preparation.

It’s no doubt, you don’t like exams (who does?). Unfortunately, you just can’t avoid them. That is why it is better to accept them as something that you’re going to face several times during your academic journey. Everything that you are studying during your math homework sessions will get you ready for the exams. The more tasks you deal with the better prepared you will be for your math exam that will come soon.

#3 Important Study Habits

College requires you to learn to study independently. Why? Well, your instructors won’t spend their precious time chasing you for your essays, reports, and presentations. If you get into the habit of doing math homework assignments, you will find it easier to submit all of your college projects on time.

#4 Boost Your Focus

When you’re in the middle of solving math questions, you gain better focus and, as a result, you work better. The focus is a must for all college and university students all over the globe. Math homework sessions will help you enhance the levels of your concentration on work. Undergraduates will learn to be more self-disciplined, self-motivated, and organized with math. What is more, learning math will also provide them with a feeling of helpfulness. 

#5 Boost Enthusiasm

Any assignment done with enthusiasm and passion turns out to be of the best quality. Dealing with complex math questions makes you more enthusiastic than you are with any other discipline. As a result, you will love everything that you do. This, in turn, will reflect in every other assignment that you submit. In other words, math boosts your interest in all potential projects, tasks, and activities.

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#6 learn to use various resources.

On the internet, many resources are available to college undergrads that they can use as a helping hand with their homework. These include economics and math home assignments help online. You can simply approach them with your clear request, “Hey, could you, please, do my math homework ?” Online helpers will be there to assist you around the clock. At the same time, plenty of resources like libraries and online calculators are at your service as well. As you work on your math homework, you learn to use all the resources mentioned above and benefit from each during your time in college.

Math is a discipline that includes hard work and regular practice. If you make sure to solve the issues in geometry and algebra on a regular basis, you will not only excel in the above-mentioned subjects but the rest of your education program. 

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by: Effortless Math Team about 3 years ago (category: Blog )

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Khan Academy Blog

Unlocking the Power of Math Learning: Strategies and Tools for Success

posted on September 20, 2023

Mathematics, the foundation of all sciences and technology, plays a fundamental role in our everyday lives. Yet many students find the subject challenging, causing them to shy away from it altogether. This reluctance is often due to a lack of confidence, a misunderstanding of unclear concepts, a move ahead to more advanced skills before they are ready, and ineffective learning methods. However, with the right approach, math learning can be both rewarding and empowering. This post will explore different approaches to learning math, strategies for success, and cutting-edge tools to help you achieve your goals.

Math Learning

Math learning can take many forms, including traditional classroom instruction, online courses, and self-directed learning. A multifaceted approach to math learning can improve understanding, engage students, and promote subject mastery. A 2014 study by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics found that the use of multiple representations, such as visual aids, graphs, and real-world examples, supports the development of mathematical connections, reasoning, and problem-solving skills.

Moreover, the importance of math learning goes beyond solving equations and formulas. Advanced math skills are essential for success in many fields, including science, engineering, finance, health care, and technology. In fact, a report by Burning Glass Technologies found that 71% of high-salary, entry-level positions require advanced math skills.

Benefits of Math Learning

In today’s 21st-century world, having a broad knowledge base and strong reading and math skills is essential. Mathematical literacy plays a crucial role in this success. It empowers individuals to comprehend the world around them and make well-informed decisions based on data-driven understanding. More than just earning good grades in math, mathematical literacy is a vital life skill that can open doors to economic opportunities, improve financial management, and foster critical thinking. We’re not the only ones who say so:

• Math learning enhances problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and logical reasoning abilities. (Source: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics )
• It improves analytical skills that can be applied in various real-life situations, such as budgeting or analyzing data. (Source: Southern New Hampshire University )
• Math learning promotes creativity and innovation by fostering a deep understanding of patterns and relationships. (Source: Purdue University )
• It provides a strong foundation for careers in fields such as engineering, finance, computer science, and more. These careers generally correlate to high wages. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics )
• Math skills are transferable and can be applied across different academic disciplines. (Source: Sydney School of Education and Social Work )

How to Know What Math You Need to Learn

Often students will find gaps in their math knowledge; this can occur at any age or skill level. As math learning is generally iterative, a solid foundation and understanding of the math skills that preceded current learning are key to success. The solution to these gaps is called mastery learning, the philosophy that underpins Khan Academy’s approach to education .

Mastery learning is an educational philosophy that emphasizes the importance of a student fully understanding a concept before moving on to the next one. Rather than rushing students through a curriculum, mastery learning asks educators to ensure that learners have “mastered” a topic or skill, showing a high level of proficiency and understanding, before progressing. This approach is rooted in the belief that all students can learn given the appropriate learning conditions and enough time, making it a markedly student-centered method. It promotes thoroughness over speed and encourages individualized learning paths, thus catering to the unique learning needs of each student.

Students will encounter mastery learning passively as they go through Khan Academy coursework, as our platform identifies gaps and systematically adjusts to support student learning outcomes. More details can be found in our Educators Hub . 

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How to learn math.

Learning at School

One of the most common methods of math instruction is classroom learning. In-class instruction provides students with real-time feedback, practical application, and a peer-learning environment. Teachers can personalize instruction by assessing students’ strengths and weaknesses, providing remediation when necessary, and offering advanced instruction to students who need it.

Learning at Home

Supplemental learning at home can complement traditional classroom instruction. For example, using online resources that provide additional practice opportunities, interactive games, and demonstrations, can help students consolidate learning outside of class. E-learning has become increasingly popular, with a wealth of online resources available to learners of all ages. The benefits of online learning include flexibility, customization, and the ability to work at one’s own pace. One excellent online learning platform is Khan Academy, which offers free video tutorials, interactive practice exercises, and a wealth of resources across a range of mathematical topics.

Moreover, parents can encourage and monitor progress, answer questions, and demonstrate practical applications of math in everyday life. For example, when at the grocery store, parents can ask their children to help calculate the price per ounce of two items to discover which one is the better deal. Cooking and baking with your children also provides a lot of opportunities to use math skills, like dividing a recipe in half or doubling the ingredients. 

Learning Math with the Help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

AI-powered tools are changing the way students learn math. Personalized feedback and adaptive practice help target individual needs. Virtual tutors offer real-time help with math concepts while AI algorithms identify areas for improvement. Custom math problems provide tailored practice, and natural language processing allows for instant question-and-answer sessions. 

Using Khan Academy’s AI Tutor, Khanmigo

Transform your child’s grasp of mathematics with Khanmigo , the 24/7 AI-powered tutor that specializes in tailored, one-on-one math instruction. Available at any time, Khanmigo provides personalized support that goes beyond mere answers to nurture genuine mathematical understanding and critical thinking. Khanmigo can track progress, identify strengths and weaknesses, and offer real-time feedback to help students stay on the right track. Within a secure and ethical AI framework, your child can tackle everything from basic arithmetic to complex calculus, all while you maintain oversight using robust parental controls.

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You can learn anything .

Math learning is essential for success in the modern world, and with the right approach, it can also be enjoyable and rewarding. Learning math requires curiosity, diligence, and the ability to connect abstract concepts with real-world applications. Strategies for effective math learning include a multifaceted approach, including classroom instruction, online courses, homework, tutoring, and personalized AI support. 

So, don’t let math anxiety hold you back; take advantage of available resources and technology to enhance your knowledge base and enjoy the benefits of math learning.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, “Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All” , April 2014

Project Lead The Way Research Report, “The Power of Transportable Skills: Assessing the Demand and Value of the Skills of the Future” , 2020

Page. M, “Why Develop Quantitative and Qualitative Data Analysis Skills?” , 2016

Mann. EL, Creativity: The Essence of Mathematics, Journal for the Education of the Gifted. Vol. 30, No. 2, 2006, pp. 236–260, http://www.prufrock.com ’

Nakakoji Y, Wilson R.” Interdisciplinary Learning in Mathematics and Science: Transfer of Learning for 21st Century Problem Solving at University ”. J Intell. 2020 Sep 1;8(3):32. doi: 10.3390/jintelligence8030032. PMID: 32882908; PMCID: PMC7555771.

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Why Is Math So Important?

Learn more about how math can be a “universal language” of learning!  

Author Christina Levandowski

Expert Reviewer Jill Padfield

Published: August 24, 2023

Learn more about how math can be a “universal language” of learning!

• Key takeaways
• You use math everyday – Whether they’re working on homework or looking to buy a new video game, your child uses math skills every day. 
• Math contributes to other fundamental skills – Problem solving, logic, and communication are all skills that are underscored by a solid mathematical foundation. 
• There are many ways to learn – If your child finds the learning process difficult, there are plenty of alternative methods to try.

Table of contents

Why is math so important in life?

10 reasons why a solid math education is vital to success, ways to improve your child’s math skills.

Math is so much more than a school skill. It’s a universal language that brings us together, establishes basic competencies, and impacts us every day—making it one of the most important to learn in a child’s educational career.

Let’s explore why math matters—and the many different applications it can have in the world around us.

1. Math teaches children how to solve problems creatively

There is always more than one way to arrive at the solution to a math problem. While this can be helpful to remember as your child practices their math, it also points to a broader understanding of creativity, problem-solving, and other relevant skills that are crucial for success in life.

2. Math impacts a child’s chance at financial success

Budgeting, bill paying, and other financial literacy skills are critical to master before your child enters adulthood. Learning the value of numbers early on can help them to understand best practices in finance and personal management — while giving them the foundation they need to thrive in more advanced finance applications (like salaries, stocks, and investment opportunities). 

3. Math builds critical thinking skills in your child

Critical thinking is an essential skill for adulthood. However, it must be taught and learned — children aren’t born with it. Parents can help to lessen the learning curve and foster lifelong critical thinking abilities by pouring in to a child’s math skills early on. 

4. Math skills build careers

Whether your child wants to be an accountant or an actor when they grow up, math can help them get there. Professionals use math daily in their jobs. Familiarizing your child with math concepts early on can give them the confidence they need to pursue additional learning opportunities on their own, while giving them the confidence they need to pursue a career of their dreams in the future. 

5. Math supports art appreciation

While many believe that the two fields are opposed, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Math and art are intertwined at a foundational level, demonstrated in concepts like scale, symmetry, and shapes. Giving your child foundational math skills can help foster art appreciation and can shape your child’s skills in both fields. 

6. Math can impact the formation of morality

Mathematical concepts underlie key components to a society’s functional understanding of right and wrong. Some of these skills include data analysis, research skills, synthesis, and pattern recognition — all of which contribute to morality and the formation of one’s own beliefs. 

By offering your child a thorough understanding of the math concepts behind these broader topics, you give them the option to stand firm in their (well-informed) convictions later on.

7. Math skills can build a child’s resilience

Resiliency is often defined as how we react in the face of difficulty. Math concepts, while useful, can be hard skills to master. Taking the time to immerse your child in the learning process can help to build their understanding of resiliency, which can lead to benefits both in and out of their educational career. 

8. Math helps build a child’s understanding of the world

Our children learn best by what they are exposed to. Letting your child explore the world of math early on can help them to understand the world around them at a deeper level, which can boost maturity and interest in future learning. 

9. Math can encourage confidence

We’ll be honest. Math can be pretty hard, especially for kids who are starting to learn it! However, the mastery of these “hard” topics over time can encourage a positive feedback loop of confidence — which can build on itself into a child’s adulthood. 

10. Math is fun

Many children may find that math is just plain fun! Encouraging them to learn and pursue what they feel is “fun” or what they think comes “naturally” to them is a great way to foster an attitude and excitement around lifelong learning. 

Every child learns differently, especially when it comes to a difficult topic like math. If you see that your student is struggling, don’t be discouraged. There are plenty of resources available that can help both of you to move forward in confidence. 

Here are some of our recommended resources that can help build math skills — no matter what stage of learning your student is in:

• Use math apps like DoodleMath. Apps and resources (like DoodleMath) make learning math fun and intuitive for your student. When the information is presented in a game-based format, your learner may feel more “safe” to explore math skills and learn in their own way. This type of resource can be a great way to “break through” any fears or reservations about ongoing mathematical education. 
• Engage with your child’s teacher. Your child’s teacher is an invaluable resource for you to lean on as you work to make your child’s educational journey a successful one. They see your child throughout the school day, and can give you insight as to how they are doing and how they learn best. Feel free to chat with them and implement suggestions during homework time or at home for an extra boost. 
• Make math interactive at home. Some children may learn better by immersive, interactive experiences. You can help by giving them practical application opportunities to apply what they’ve learned. For example, let them count coins and pay on your next grocery run. Or, have them create patterns with their favorite small toys and blocks. Your child’s teacher can be a great resource to help you get started with this step. 
• Find a tutor if they’re struggling. We all need a little extra help sometimes! A tutor may be just what your child needs to break through any barriers or tough spots.
• Foster mathematical curiosity early. Children display curiosity, especially in the first few years of education. Take advantage of this when you can, and give them plenty of opportunities to explore math in their world and experience. This can lay the groundwork for more successful learning moments later on.

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Frequently asked questions

All math is useful and can be seen in the world around us. Many interact with certain concepts (like addition, subtraction, patterns, and budgeting) on a daily basis!

Math skills are the foundation to all of our other skills that we learn in school and on the job. We see math literacy in critical thinking skills, pattern recognition skills, research skills, and logic — just to name a few! Many consider these skills to be societal “building blocks,” contributing to other fields that may seem unrelated — such as art, history, agricultural education, and others.

If you find that your child needs a helping hand, you can always reach out to their teacher for support. You can also explore math tools and apps (like DoodleMath) that help kids learn foundational math skills in an engaging and fun way.

We encounter math every single day. Learning how to master techniques early on is key to success in adulthood and beyond! 

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Is Math Homework Really That Important?

You plan engaging math lessons. Your students seem to get it, mostly, and you provide a variety of math practice activities. Do they really need math homework too? Absolutely. 

Math homework is essential for consolidating skills and building math fluency. 

You can think of math homework as review. Math homework means students get practice outside the school day and between lessons. Sometimes students can demonstrate a skill right after they learn it, but to remember it, they need additional practice for retention. 

You can also think of math homework as additional practice. As students practice more and get more confident with particular skills, they are able to do the work more easily and more quickly, building fluency. 

Math homework also provides an opportunity for students to practice learning independently, prepare for tests, practice study skills, and work on thinking skills. 

Make the most of math homework

Math homework is essential, so you want to make the most of it. That means homework that provides review and practice around the concepts you’ve covered recently in class. Homework can cover a lesson of the day or week, and might also review a past skill. 

Homework should be simple—you want the focus to be on the actual math, not struggling to figure out directions. It should also be at the right level—you want students to have some challenge and some success.

Mix it up with your math homework

Kids will groan about a worksheet full of problems every day. There’s nothing wrong with worksheets, but there are other great ways for kids to practice math. A variety keeps things interesting, so mix up the activities you give them for home practice. For example, try puzzles, task cards, or even math games . 

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Worksheets and puzzles

Say you are teaching skip counting. You could alternate skip counting worksheets and skip counting puzzles . 

You can choose puzzles and worksheets based on different students’ understanding or keep upleveling them over the time you are teaching skip counting. For example start with skip counting by 10s starting on a 10 and going to 90. Add complexity by using non-10s as a starting point, moving beyond 100, or counting backward. 

You can give students a set of task cards at the beginning of the week and have them due at the end of the week. This allows students to practice time management and have multiple ways to demonstrate that they understand the material. 

Time. For example, if you are teaching about time, you could use our Time Task Cards , which allow students to practice:

• Telling the time on an analog clock
• Showing the time on an analog clock
• Writing the time in different ways
• Using analog and digital time interchangeably
• Working out elapsed time
• Showing elapsed time 
• Ordering time

Place Value. If you need 4th grade math homework to practice place value, use Place Value Task Cards to help your students build a strong number sense. When you send these task cards as homework, students will work on identifying, comparing and ordering numbers to thousands.

Multiplication . Our Multiplication Task Cards help students: 

• Recall and use times tables up to 12 x 12
• Multiply whole numbers by one digit numbers
• Multiply whole numbers by two digit numbers
• Use the halving and doubling strategy to solve equations
• Determine unknown whole numbers in a multiplication equation

Instead of drilling over and over, task cards provide different kinds of activities to give students practice in the target area. 

Make the most of math homework, without taking a lot out of you. Check out our task cards, skip counting puzzles, worksheets and other math activities . These done for you resources make providing the practice your students need a snap.

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Is It Necessary To Do Math Homework?

Mathematics is one of the most important courses in every school curriculum. After a lengthy study, students are expected to be able to perform both simple and intricate math calculations. Teachers not only teach this subject during regular class hours but also give homework to help students improve their knowledge. Math homework is necessary for a variety of reasons.

These are some of them:

Memory and cognitive capacity are improved. It’s important to remember that whatever a teacher teaches in class only accounts for a small portion of what a student is required to know. As a result, the student’s individual learning efforts contribute a larger amount. In this situation, if a student intends to pursue further education at the college or university level, he or she must master the art of independent study. Students can recall what they learned during tests or in real-life applications if they perform things on their own. As a result, math homework improves a student’s memory and critical thinking skills.

Instill good habits and study skills. When teachers assign math homework to students at lower academic levels, they are attempting to instill in them the importance of learning independently. Students who finish homework in lower classes perform better in higher levels of learning, according to studies, because teachers in those institutions do not waste time tracking students down for their tasks.

Exam preparation is essential. Exams are an important part of the learning process in all educational institutions. Teachers and parents may not be able to determine a student’s strengths and weaknesses without them. When teachers assign math homework to pupils, they do so as a means of improving their skills and sharpening their knowledge in preparation for their exams. As a result, the more math homework a student can finish, the better prepared they will be for tests.

Develop research skills. Teachers do not expect students to remember all of the knowledge when they give them math assignments. The assignment of math homework allows pupils to conduct research. Data is a tool for generating critical judgments in modern times. The ability to acquire and analyze data from a variety of sources improves a student’s research abilities. Furthermore, thanks to current technology, students now have access to online tutors who can help them with their “do my math for me” requests. Because some students are embarrassed to raise questions in class, online tutors give them a place to ask questions and get help with their math homework.

Encourages pupils to go over their notes in class. Teachers frequently assign homework based on what they have covered in class. In this instance, students can complete their assignments quickly without having to hunt for additional sources of information. If students were not given homework, there is a good probability they would spend the entire evening wasting their time and never reviewing their classwork.

Allows parents to learn about what their children are learning in class. When it comes to the well-being of students, parents are crucial. It’s necessary to recognize that getting kids to school is an important element of their development. School assists youngsters in developing the core learning abilities they require. Teachers provide parents the opportunity to examine what their children are learning in class when they assign math homework. The parent has a responsibility to assist the child during the assessment procedure. It’s important to remember that when a parent assists their child with math homework, they’re not only helping them learn something new, but they’re also strengthening the link between the parent and the child.

Allows teachers to assess the effectiveness of their lessons. Teachers might use homework to determine whether the lessons and materials they are delivering in class are effective. It serves as a platform for them to learn. When a teacher offers a math assignment, and a major portion of the class fails, this indicates that the students did not understand what the teacher was teaching. As a result, the instructor is pushed to discover a simpler way to teach their students and ensure that they understand the topics.

Oryx learning is an interactive learning platform that helps children in boosting their educational development by engaging them in different activities for learning and solving problems. It provides the option to teachers and parents of giving online homework and assignments with flexible deadlines for submission catering individual needs of learners. Teachers and parents have the option of assigning topics and skills in which their students or children need to strengthen. They can also view the progress report and identify the weak areas.

In a nutshell, math homework is important for students, instructors, and parents for a variety of reasons. It serves as a platform for parents to track their children’s development in school as well as a learning tool for kids and teachers. Contrary to what some stakeholders suggest, math homework is a crucial part of learning.

Further reading

How Can You Assist Your Children in Math as Parents?

How teachers can play an essential role in helping students succeed

How Can Parents Help Their Children Improve Their Mathematical Skills

Enable a Flipped Classroom for Distance Learning with Oryx Learning

How to Use the Fishbowl Teaching Strategy in Math Distance Learning?

10 Benefits of Personalized Learning

Weekly dose of self-improvement

12 reasons why math is important (and how to get better)

If one of these reasons to learn math motivates you to be a better student or makes your job as a teacher easier, then this list has done its job,

Why is mathematics seen as such an important tool and hold unique place among other subjects? Or put differently, why do we look at math with a sense of awe?

When I was younger, I wanted to be good at math.

I was friends with many smart kids, and it seemed like I was the only one of my friends who couldn’t understand and apply basic mathematical concepts. I’ve written about my struggles with math in high school and how I improved my understanding of math to the point of getting a Bachelor’s degree in physics with a minor in math.

Part of what helped me grasp math concepts was becoming a tutor for mathematics and physics. Nothing improves your understanding of a subject like helping others to understand it as well. However, I often ran into the same problem.

Many of them were doing terrible because they couldn’t see the point of learning mathematics. I could help them with their math homework, but it would be up to them to take a real interest in their math education if they wanted to do well on tests.

[You can read the steps I took to get better at math right here ]

Why is math important for everyday life?

This is the question that I think most teachers wrestle with.

They can see the abstract applications and the technical innovations, but that’s because teachers have the benefit of mastery. The real challenge is getting high school students to see how learning to solve math problems will have any effect on their daily life.

While my job was to improve their math and physics grades, regardless of how they felt about the subject, I found that my task was a lot easier when they were motivated. Motivation comes from a belief in the cause that your actions are supporting.

Therefore, I took every opportunity I could to explain why it was important that they learned math and how it related to the real world. While none of my former students have gone on to become mathematicians, they all understand the importance of math and (I believe) have a deep respect for the power of numbers.

The following is a collection of reasons I’ve given students on why it’s important to learn math. If only one of these reasons motivates you to be a better student or makes your job as a teacher easier, then curating this list will have been well worth it.

• Improves ability to communicate

Mathematics teaches you to be very precise with your words and definitions.

People don’t think about the connection between their verbal acumen and mathematical reasoning, but math is a language. Like any other language, there are rules for communication. The difference between math and most other languages is that math has no ambiguity.

With math, you don’t get to use body language or tone of voice to clarify the message. A mathematical message is objective, precise, and has no ambiguity. Nowhere is this more clear than in computer programming.

Programming languages are nothing more than the instructions for computers, written in math because that’s what a computer understands. You may write the program with words, but the compiler sees the words and because each word is tied to a specific operation, it can tell the computer what to do in a binary math language.

This is why it can be so frustrating to spend hours writing code for a program or website that won’t work, only to find that it was so seemingly minuscule as a missed colon, extra space, or wrong case that kept everything from working.

• Teaches the value of the process

Math is objective and you have to prove why it works.

In fact, math is unique in that you need to not only have the correct outcome but also demonstrate the soundness of the process that you used to arrive at that outcome.

Even in lower-level math classes that most are familiar with, this is the idea of “showing your work.” Any math teacher worth a damn will not let a student get away with just coming up with the right answer but arriving at it via a terrible process. You typically receive more credit if you have a sound process but get the wrong answer than vice-versa.

This feature of mathematics is used to verify (or debunk) many experiments in the social sciences because it’s been shown that the processes they used, when repeated, don’t produce the same outcome. This is a reformulation of the same question that the scientific method puts to the test: does the process produce the same outcome every time?

If it can’t do that, then the conclusion is, at best, considered pseudoscientific and, at worst, classified as fraudulent.

• Keeps you from being fooled

The stronger your grasp of mathematics, the harder it is for people to take advantage of you.

When you sit in on someone’s pyramid scheme pitch, you’ll be able to instantly tell that the numbers simply don’t work. While everyone else is excited about going from nothing to 18 months by recruiting five people who recruit five people who recruit five more people, you will immediately recognize that this only works if each person spends $1000 on something that they can get for $50 elsewhere.

While everyone is being manipulated by the media’s latest rising figure of murder and disease, you’ll be able to immediately recognize that they used the metric that sounds the most terrifying to fit their agenda.

Learn the method I used to earn a physics degree, learn Spanish, and win a national boxing title

• I was a terrible math student in high school who wrote off mathematics. I eventually overcame my difficulties and went on to earn a B.A. Physics with a minor in math
• I pieced together the best works on the internet to teach myself Spanish as an adult
• *I didn’t start boxing until the very old age of 22, yet I went on to win a national championship, get a high-paying amateur sponsorship, and get signed by Roc Nation Sports as a profession.

I’ve used this method to progress in mentally and physically demanding domains.

While the specifics may differ, I believe that the general methods for learning are the same in all domains.

This free e-book breaks down the most important techniques I’ve used for learning.

• Math makes you more money

If you’re wondering what to major in to get the greatest return on your college tuition, here’s a simple test: does the major require you to study at least one calculus level? If it doesn’t, you’re probably wasting your money in college studying it.

A look at the Glassdoor.com list of the 50 highest paying majors by starting salary , Nursing is the only major that doesn’t require Calculus that starts above $50,000/yr. But suppose you’re considering studying nursing to earn a better salary without facing the rigors of mathematics. In that case, you’ll still have to take statistics which is just as challenging and academically rigorous.

• Improves your quality of life

We live in a world that is run on technology and information.

It’s been said that in the 21st century, “data is the new oil.” It stands to reason that the best jobs—the ones willing to do the most to retain employees and pay higher salaries—are in career fields involving technology and data.

Technology development and data analysis are fields of hands-on applied mathematics.

Business Insider’s list of 14 High Paying Jobs with Work-Life Balance includes ten professions where math is directly used, or mathematical reasoning is used in programming. The future will be dominated by math and technology. This makes math an important subject for anyone who wants to make a lot of money but doesn’t have an interest in working for themselves or starting a business.

• Math sharpens your analytical thinking

Math is based on logic.

The word “math” is derived from the Greek word “máthēma” meaning “knowledge, study, learning.”

Math forces you to think deeply about what you see and develop adequate language to explain it. You have to make sure that your reasoning is sharp enough to not only articulate what you know but to frame it so that a person could follow what you’re saying and repeat what you’ve done. That’s the type of clarity that is demanded in mathematics.

This is the basic idea behind a theorem. They’re based on proofs, which try to prove some conclusion by walking through a set of premises and logical reasoning. Though you will likely never get into mathematical proofing, the idea is still relevant for arguing your ideas and analyzing the arguments of others.

• Makes your thinking more rigorous

A mentor once told me that a definition of science is a set of predictions that are testable, repeatable, and mathematically verifiable.

This means that if I make a prediction or a declaration, I should be able to construct a mathematical rule that tells me how often and under what conditions the outcome it predicts will occur.

When we sidestep this level of rigor, academically or casually, it’s easier for us to fall prey to biases. This decreases the possibility of us achieving our goals or understanding one another.

A solid understanding of mathematics will intuitively lead to the idea that you need to have clear definitions and hypotheses for things you want to understand and explain.

[If you’re wondering why math is so hard for you, read this list of math difficulties you may be having and the solutions for them .]

• Develops problem-solving skills

Most of us will never need to use the Pythagorean theorem or solve a quadratic equation in real life. However, the approach you take when you learn these skills transfers over into other problem-solving endeavors.

This is not to say that you’ll be a terrible problem solver if you can’t do high school algebra. It only means that the meticulous approach to doing mathematics translates into many other skills.

[Further develop your problem-solving ability by following a sound problem-solving process that I teach here .]

• Basic math skills are required to survive in this world

Whole education system out here failing. pic.twitter.com/z0zXbxZH2Z — Ed Latimore (@EdLatimore) December 5, 2021

No matter how powerful or portable calculation devices become, we still need to understand math to avoid issues like the one above.

You need to understand how to give the correct change, not because you might be working as a cashier one day, but because you will buy things and you need to know if they’re giving you the right amount back.

You need to understand how to follow a recipe. There’s a big difference between ⅓ and ⅔ when it comes to measuring out food. In fact, in 1980, A&W introduced a rival to McDonald’s quarter-pounder (¼ lb) that was a ⅓ pound of meat at a better price, but it failed because people thought ¼ was bigger than ⅓, and they were being overcharged.

Read more about what happens when a population lacks mathematical knowledge here.

In his book  Threshold Resistance , Adolph Taubman looked back on this whole situation. He states: “More than half the participants of the Yankelovich focus groups questioned the price of our burger. “Why,” they asked, “should we pay the same amount for a third-pound of meat as we do for a quarter-pound of meat at McDonald’s? You’re overcharging us.”

• The future is mathematical

As the world becomes more digital, skills like web design, engineering, and programming will continue to rise in value. The ability to analyze data and write algorithms that allow internet marketers and eCommerce stores to make money already command higher salaries than most professions.

Speaking of medicine and science, all advances in communication and technology are based on quantitative reasoning and mathematical understanding. We are now solving complex problems; to do so, we need math.

Mathematical reasoning is heavily relied upon even for simple work like the skilled trades. The digital/scientific nature of the world relies on math as well. This leaves few options for a well-paying, satisfactory profession moving into the future.

[My favorite application of math has been getting my degree in physics. If you’re interested in the math needed to learn physics, this post will tell you everything you need to know .]

• Learning math makes you better at everything else

Studies have shown that students who are better at math have more grey matter in their brains ( source ).

The grey matter throughout the central nervous system allows enables individuals to control movement, memory, and emotions. Different areas of the brain are responsible for various functions, and grey matter plays a significant role in all aspects of human life.

If you have better control of your body, mind, and emotions, you have better control over your world, and you’ll be better able to do everything better.

• Math helps you to navigate uncertainty

Even a basic understanding of odds and probability can help you do better at (or avoid entirely) games of chance and gambling.

It also opens up the world of sports betting and allows you to better assess the safety of an activity. Understanding odds, ratios, and percentages open up a possible income stream in sports betting or financial trading and give you a more accurate understanding of how the world works.

[I have an entire article about understanding sports betting. You don’t need much math. A little goes a long way. Read it here—> How to understand sports betting ]

You begin to understand that the world is more probabilistic than deterministic, and your thinking becomes more nuanced. This makes your predictions more accurate and your decisions more precise.

Use Math Calculators

As technology has revolutionized different industries, it has improved educational standards as well. Students now have online ways to learn and practice math problems.

Calculators provides a ton of online calculators that can help you learn math and practice online.

A recap of the 12 reasons why math is important

Ed Latimore

I’m a writer, competitive chess player, Army veteran, physicist, and former professional heavyweight boxer. My work focuses on self-development, realizing your potential, and sobriety—speaking from personal experience, having overcome both poverty and addiction.

Follow me on Twitter.

4 Reasons not to major in physics

I love my physics degree and how it modified my thinking. With that said, here’s why you shouldn’t major in physics from someone who’s done it.

Why is calculus hard?

I failed calculus three times. On the 4th try, it clicked. I now have a BA in physics and a minor in math. Here’s how I finally learned calculus.

How to learn calculus (even if you’re bad at math)

Why Homework Helps: A Defense of Homework

Yes, we’re talking about why homework helps.

No, seriously. 

We know homework isn’t usually considered fun but, it doesn’t have to be fun to be helpful . We’d definitely understand why you might see it as a waste of time, that’s why for today’s blog we’re going to break down why homework is helpful for its learning benefits and its utility.

Reinforcing Learning

Homework serves as a valuable tool for reinforcing what students have learned in the classroom. When you learn topics in class, they’re often explained in a way that you can understand the material but, the real learning comes when you begin doing the work yourself. After all, there’s a reason why the expression “learn by doing” is a thing. By actively engaging with the material, you allow yourself to internalize concepts and improve in your own way, at your own pace.

Practicing Skills

Another reason why homework is important is that it allows you to practice and refine your skills. Whether it’s solving math problems, writing essays, or conducting scientific experiments, practice is crucial for mastery. Homework provides the necessary practice that helps you develop a deeper level of proficiency in various subjects. 

We actually go into the science of studying with practice examples in our blog post, Strategies for Studying Smarter, Not Hard . We’re not just saying this because we’re an educational site and we want you to like homework. We’re saying this because scientifically, practicing these skills will make you better at critical thinking and problem-solving. Will you always need to know the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell? Maybe, maybe not. Will you need to know how to quickly retrieve information to solve problems satisfactorily for the rest of your life? Absolutely.

Homework Provides Easy Grade Points

Everyone at some point or another has had a term riding on one particular test or exam and it definitely doesn’t feel great. Most of this time this is because of poor performance with assignments thus leading to lower grades. Homework assignments however, are an easy way to boost and reinforce your total GPA so that exams aren’t as a big of a deal (you should still prep for them responsibly however). 

This is what we mean when we say the utility of homework. Even if you feel like it’s not doing you any favors which, scientifically isn’t true, it is certainly doing your GPA a favor. Getting exceptional passing grades is easier on assignments because you can check your answers, ensure the correct responses are provided, and scoop up an easy A in the progress. Don’t be so quick to hate on homework, as long as you do it all, it’s actually doing you a favor!

Preparation for Tests

Homework plays a significant role in preparing you for assessments such as quizzes, tests, and exams. When you consistently complete homework assignments, you actively review and reinforce the material, making it easier to recall during assessments. Homework helps you identify areas where you need additional practice or clarification, enabling you to seek help before important evaluations.

The Wrap-Up

Contrary to popular belief, homework can be a valuable tool for students. It reinforces learning, provides practice, provides an easier source of solid points, and prepares you for assessments. So next time you sit down to do your homework, remember the benefits it brings to your education. Embrace it as an opportunity to grow and excel in your academic journey!

Rob Shield is based out of Columbus, Ohio. As Numerade's copywriter, Rob uses their extensive background in education to inform and shape the topics and content posted to the blog for educators, parents, and students alike.

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4 reasons why math is important for everyday life.

Mar 27, 2019

For many students, math is a difficult subject to thoroughly comprehend. In mathematics, there is one correct answer for any given equation, and when students are unable to reach the conclusion, it can be a discouraging feeling. Math is more important to our everyday lives than just being able to solve for ‘x’ - it helps us with real-world problem solving, helps our brains process information faster, and it helps us develop critical thinking skills. Here are a few reasons why math is an important function in our everyday lives:

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is a skill that helps us make informed and educated decisions, without being influenced by outside bias or other distractions. Taking into consideration all components of a problem, dispelling any notion that would be invaluable to reaching a conclusion, and making reasonable assessments about how to reach your final outcome, will help you make smart life choices. Although you may never need to find out the square root of 81 in your future, understanding how to solve a problem by using all the information that is provided to form a clear & concise conclusion is beneficial to you when making other life decisions.

Helps With Financial Decisions

Math will help you make sound monetary decisions. There will come a point when you will have to make small financial choices (i.e. tipping your waiter, comprehending sales tax, etc.) and large financial decisions (i.e applying for a mortgage, budgeting household expenses, etc.) Having a fundamental understanding of how money works, how to manage your money and calculating risk vs. reward will all be beneficial for your future.

Math Will Become a Part Of Your Future Profession

You may not even consider a career involving anything to do with numbers, but math will follow you as you make a name for yourself in the future. Individuals that work in retail stores may be responsible for cash which utilizes fundamental arithmetic, those that choose a future in construction may require an understanding of trigonometric functions, and those that pursue a career in health care will have to know how to calculate dosages of medication and measure body mass indexes, etc. Even then, you will need to have a basic understanding of time management to calculate what time you need to leave your house to make it to work on time, as well as how long certain tasks take so that you can complete all your duties on time.

Strengthens Your Brain

Most importantly, math will help you step out of your comfort zone. It may make you uncomfortable at first, but once you comprehend a concept it can help improve your self-confidence and supply you with the courage that you need to accept the mistakes you’ve made. Those that pursue math are generally proficient at multitasking & making detail-oriented observations. Math will also help you do well in other ventures that you may be interested in such as playing a musical instrument, video games, knitting, sewing, and virtually any sport.

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Does homework still have value? A Johns Hopkins education expert weighs in

Joyce epstein, co-director of the center on school, family, and community partnerships, discusses why homework is essential, how to maximize its benefit to learners, and what the 'no-homework' approach gets wrong.

By Vicky Hallett

The necessity of homework has been a subject of debate since at least as far back as the 1890s, according to Joyce L. Epstein , co-director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University. "It's always been the case that parents, kids—and sometimes teachers, too—wonder if this is just busy work," Epstein says.

But after decades of researching how to improve schools, the professor in the Johns Hopkins School of Education remains certain that homework is essential—as long as the teachers have done their homework, too. The National Network of Partnership Schools , which she founded in 1995 to advise schools and districts on ways to improve comprehensive programs of family engagement, has developed hundreds of improved homework ideas through its Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork program. For an English class, a student might interview a parent on popular hairstyles from their youth and write about the differences between then and now. Or for science class, a family could identify forms of matter over the dinner table, labeling foods as liquids or solids. These innovative and interactive assignments not only reinforce concepts from the classroom but also foster creativity, spark discussions, and boost student motivation.

"We're not trying to eliminate homework procedures, but expand and enrich them," says Epstein, who is packing this research into a forthcoming book on the purposes and designs of homework. In the meantime, the Hub couldn't wait to ask her some questions:

What kind of homework training do teachers typically get?

Future teachers and administrators really have little formal training on how to design homework before they assign it. This means that most just repeat what their teachers did, or they follow textbook suggestions at the end of units. For example, future teachers are well prepared to teach reading and literacy skills at each grade level, and they continue to learn to improve their teaching of reading in ongoing in-service education. By contrast, most receive little or no training on the purposes and designs of homework in reading or other subjects. It is really important for future teachers to receive systematic training to understand that they have the power, opportunity, and obligation to design homework with a purpose.

Why do students need more interactive homework?

If homework assignments are always the same—10 math problems, six sentences with spelling words—homework can get boring and some kids just stop doing their assignments, especially in the middle and high school years. When we've asked teachers what's the best homework you've ever had or designed, invariably we hear examples of talking with a parent or grandparent or peer to share ideas. To be clear, parents should never be asked to "teach" seventh grade science or any other subject. Rather, teachers set up the homework assignments so that the student is in charge. It's always the student's homework. But a good activity can engage parents in a fun, collaborative way. Our data show that with "good" assignments, more kids finish their work, more kids interact with a family partner, and more parents say, "I learned what's happening in the curriculum." It all works around what the youngsters are learning.

Is family engagement really that important?

At Hopkins, I am part of the Center for Social Organization of Schools , a research center that studies how to improve many aspects of education to help all students do their best in school. One thing my colleagues and I realized was that we needed to look deeply into family and community engagement. There were so few references to this topic when we started that we had to build the field of study. When children go to school, their families "attend" with them whether a teacher can "see" the parents or not. So, family engagement is ever-present in the life of a school.

My daughter's elementary school doesn't assign homework until third grade. What's your take on "no homework" policies?

There are some parents, writers, and commentators who have argued against homework, especially for very young children. They suggest that children should have time to play after school. This, of course is true, but many kindergarten kids are excited to have homework like their older siblings. If they give homework, most teachers of young children make assignments very short—often following an informal rule of 10 minutes per grade level. "No homework" does not guarantee that all students will spend their free time in productive and imaginative play.

Some researchers and critics have consistently misinterpreted research findings. They have argued that homework should be assigned only at the high school level where data point to a strong connection of doing assignments with higher student achievement . However, as we discussed, some students stop doing homework. This leads, statistically, to results showing that doing homework or spending more minutes on homework is linked to higher student achievement. If slow or struggling students are not doing their assignments, they contribute to—or cause—this "result."

Teachers need to design homework that even struggling students want to do because it is interesting. Just about all students at any age level react positively to good assignments and will tell you so.

Did COVID change how schools and parents view homework?

Within 24 hours of the day school doors closed in March 2020, just about every school and district in the country figured out that teachers had to talk to and work with students' parents. This was not the same as homeschooling—teachers were still working hard to provide daily lessons. But if a child was learning at home in the living room, parents were more aware of what they were doing in school. One of the silver linings of COVID was that teachers reported that they gained a better understanding of their students' families. We collected wonderfully creative examples of activities from members of the National Network of Partnership Schools. I'm thinking of one art activity where every child talked with a parent about something that made their family unique. Then they drew their finding on a snowflake and returned it to share in class. In math, students talked with a parent about something the family liked so much that they could represent it 100 times. Conversations about schoolwork at home was the point.

How did you create so many homework activities via the Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork program?

We had several projects with educators to help them design interactive assignments, not just "do the next three examples on page 38." Teachers worked in teams to create TIPS activities, and then we turned their work into a standard TIPS format in math, reading/language arts, and science for grades K-8. Any teacher can use or adapt our prototypes to match their curricula.

Overall, we know that if future teachers and practicing educators were prepared to design homework assignments to meet specific purposes—including but not limited to interactive activities—more students would benefit from the important experience of doing their homework. And more parents would, indeed, be partners in education.

Posted in Voices+Opinion

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Math Homework Can End Up Doing More Harm Than Good, Study Shows

Giving pupils math homework can sometimes do more harm than good, according to a new study – particularly when the tasks involved in the work are too complex for kids to complete even with the help of their parents.

The researchers, from the University of South Australia and St Francis Xavier University in Canada, interviewed eight Canadian families, asking questions about their experiences with mathematics homework and its effects on the family.

All the families had a child in grade 3, typically aged 8 or 9, the age at which the first standardized math tests are introduced in the area where the survey was conducted. Overall, math was talked about as a subject that wasn't liked, and that involved too much extra work.

"Homework has long been accepted as a practice that reinforces children's learning and improves academic success," says Lisa O'Keeffe, a senior lecturer in mathematics education at the University of South Australia.

"But when it is too complex for a student to complete even with parent support, it raises the question as to why it was set as a homework task in the first place."

The issues identified by the study included homework being too difficult – even with parental help – as well as the work pushing back bedtimes, crossing over into family time, and causing feelings of inadequacy and frustration.

As with many subjects, approaches to teaching and learning mathematics can change over time . Parents who, as children, had been taught how to tackle problems in a different way to their kids was another frustration noted by the researchers.

"Like many things, mathematics teaching has evolved over time," says O'Keeffe. "But when parents realize that their tried-and-true methods are different to those which their children are learning, it can be hard to adapt, and this can add undue pressure."

This can lead to "negativity across generations", the researchers say . Mothers in the study tended to be mostly responsible for helping with the homework – and when they also find the assignments tough, that can reinforce negative stereotypes about mathematics not being a subject in which girls "naturally excel", according to the study authors.

These negative stereotypes can have lasting impacts on their grades and career aspirations , other studies show.

Of course, the coronavirus pandemic is still fresh in everyone's minds – a time when children were often asked to study at home, and parents often had to help out when it came to completing assignments.

While this study uses a small sample of participants, the researchers say its findings match common narratives in education. They want to see more done to make sure math homework is set in an appropriate way, and that it doesn't end up putting youngsters off the subject at an early age.

"The last thing teachers want to do is disadvantage girls in developing potentially strong mathematical identities," says study author Sarah McDonald, an education lecturer at the University of South Australia. So "we need a greater understanding of homework policies and expectations."

Homework is often thought to have non-academic benefits, such as fostering independence and developing organisational skills and self-discipline, McDonald adds , although the family experiences captured in their study don't necessarily back that up.

The research has been published in the British Journal of Sociology of Education .

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Study Skills

Math homework: why is it so important.

Math plays an essential role in life, whether we know it or not. From engineering and architecture to shopping and cooking, math is used every single day. 

Yet children and teenagers, when faced with the option to either do their math homework or watch TV, will most likely choose the latter. That’s quite understandable at their age! Yet they may not realize the benefits math homework provides – not only for their education but also for success in future endeavors. In fact, ninety-four percent of jobs use math in some way, shape or form. Here are five reasons why math homework is beneficial to all students.

1.Cultivates critical thinking skills 

Down to its basics, math presents problems that engage our critical thinking skills. Math motivates students to make sense of problems using context and reasoning, creating a purposeful and fulfilling learning experience. In one particular study, researchers found that high school students, who focused more on memory and critical thinking, received higher PSAT scores than those who relied on their calculators more.

In applying their minds more than physical resources, students grow invaluable critical thinking skills and, consequently, achieve optimal results. Math homework trains students to do so, enriching their learning experience in discovering meaningful solutions through creative exploration.

2. Improves problem-solving skills

Math homework develops mental agility, combining both memory and logic towards solving problems. In regularly completing math homework, students strengthen their ability to retain large amounts of information to solve math problems. When they acquire and hone in on that ability, such can branch into other decisions in life! International foundation for education, UNESCO, stated that powerful mathematical skills are best established when applying problem-solving skills, becoming one of the most efficient methods to solve challenges outside of mathematics.

With this in mind, practicing problem-solving through math homework will become second nature for students to pinpoint criteria into making a thoughtful judgment. Their problem-solving ability, stemming from doing homework, will better prepare them in fulfilling the expectations of the workforce and a constantly evolving world.

3. Prepares you for exams

Successfully completing math homework on a regular basis indicates that students understand the materials covered in class. It’s reflected in their exams, as homework provides ease into solving the math presented. In fact, a study had shown that students, who completed their homework, displayed higher results on tests and grades than sixty-nine percent who didn’t. 

In becoming efficient at completing math homework, students gain more confidence in studying and passing their exams with flying colours. With that gained confidence, they become more knowledgeable and capable of the subject at hand. 

Think of it this way: math homework helps to strengthen knowledge in skills and study for careers a student might be interested in. Medical scientists, for example, utilize data calculations in testing out hypotheses to ensure safe doses of medicine. If they didn’t study well in school, would you trust the medicine they prescribe?

4. Promotes individual learning and self-discipline

Math homework encourages a motivated approach in independently solving problems, as only a fraction of the information taught in class is absorbed by students. Typically only fifty percent is retained, indicating that students must apply that information to cement their understanding. Through this process, students develop research skills, time management, and self-discipline in order to successfully complete their homework. 

In cementing an understanding through research avenues like afterschool programs and online help, students are able to collect and analyze data from reliable sources. They then use these sources to tailor their own path in solving math. Homework deadlines also motivate students to achieve optimal results within a reasonable time frame, learning to prioritize tasks and eliminating procrastination. Research from The High School Journal discovered that, in the study, students who spent at least 31 minutes reviewing their homework scored considerably higher on SAT-Mathematics than those who paid assignments no mind. 

Diligence in completing math homework reinforces initiative and time management – two characteristics many employers look for. With such skills, students are given leverage not only in the short term of school but in the long term of securing their ideal career.

5. Fosters pride in achievement

Despite the complexities students may face in math concepts, math itself is a universal language that typically has the right answer. When students use their memory, critical thinking, and research skills to solve a hard math problem, finding its answer instills pride and confidence within them. Then their personal responsibility in finding all the answers in their math homework is fulfilled, giving them a sense of accomplishment, a deeper understanding and a well-deserved pat on the back.

It’s like completing a puzzle with thousands of pieces. Once you put them all together, you can see the full picture, marveling at what your hard work has created.

Math homework is not only vital in excelling in education but in developing essential life skills like critical thinking, initiative, and responsibility. At MathProject , we motivate students to achieve those skills, instilling confidence in math with our uniquely designed curriculum . Empower your children with mathematical knowledge and excellence by contacting us today at 1-844-628-424, and book a free assessment ! For more information on MathProject’s math tutoring programs in Katy, Richmond, Cypress, Sugar Land, Missouri City and/or Hillcroft , visit ‘Our Programs’ page. Book a free assessment

Check out what other parents have to say about us, here !

Citations: Why Math Homework is Important – homeworkdoer.org Some Interesting Reasons Why You Should Like Math Homework – starttws.com If There Was No Homework: An Interesting Viewpoint – transatlanticstudies.org Why Is Homework Important – college-homework-help.org Is Homework Beneficial? – procon.org Math and Memory – psychologytoday.com 28 Jobs for Math Majors That Offer Awesome Opportunities – trade-schools.net Mathematica – mathematica.ca

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Why is homework important?

Why Is Homework Important: Beyond Class and Embracing Learning

Homework is important for several reasons, as it plays a crucial role in enhancing students' learning and educational experience. Here are some key reasons why homework is valuable:

• Reinforces Learning : Homework helps reinforce what was taught in class, allowing students to practice and apply knowledge, ensuring a deeper understanding and retention of the material.
• Promotes Discipline and Time Management : Regular homework assignments teach students to manage their time effectively, develop self-discipline, and prioritize tasks, which are valuable skills beyond the classroom.
• Encourages Independence and Responsibility : Completing homework independently fosters self-reliance and personal responsibility for one's learning, preparing students for the self-directed learning required in higher education and the workplace.
• Provides Feedback : Homework offers teachers a way to assess students' understanding and progress, allowing them to identify areas where students may need extra help and adjust their teaching strategies accordingly.
• Enhances Critical Thinking and Problem Solving : Homework often involves tasks that require critical thinking and problem-solving, skills that are crucial for academic and life success.
• Engages Parents in Their Child's Education : Homework gives parents insight into what their children are learning in school and the opportunity to engage in their child's education, supporting learning at home.
• Prepares for Upcoming Classes : Homework can be used to introduce new material, preparing students for future lessons and enabling more effective use of classroom time.

Overall, homework is a critical tool in the educational process, supporting learning and personal development in numerous ways.

Ever wondered why teachers seem to love piling on homework? The real reasons why assignments have such an amazing impact on your future might surprise you.

In this article, we’re discovering how homework isn’t just busywork — it’s an essential player when it comes to skyrocketing your comprehension of class material, refining your ability to tackle problems, and establishing a sturdy foundation for academic success. 

By the time we’re done, you’re going to be seeing homework in a different light. So, let's find out why homework is important.

Benefits of Homework

Homework facilitates problem-solving skills, provides students with an additional chance to revisit classroom content, enables parents to understand school teachings, and instills a sense of responsibility in students regarding their education.

If you're asking yourself, "Why is homework good for me?" There are numerous reasons why it can be very beneficial in the long run. Challenging work allows us to grow, after all. Let's look at all its benefits.

Completing Homework Encourages Students To Keep Learning

For some students, learning is not just an obligation but can be enjoyed as well. The acceptance of life-long learning can be fostered by homework, and if the teacher manages to engage their students, they’ve set the stage for the students. Let’s take a look at why homework is important:  

• Improves memory and retention: It increases the potential for students to remember class material since they have to revisit it.
• Increases the potential for practical use of knowledge: By understanding the lesson’s materials in more depth, students might apply what they know with more ease.

Helps Develop Skills and Good Habits

Doing your homework can help you develop the necessary skills and habits needed to do challenging work and to keep progressing and ultimately growing as a person. This is why the importance of homework can't be overlooked. 

• Helps you learn time management: Since homework is usually done outside of school, students will learn how to manage their time and studying time, which will seep into their ability to manage their time in general.
• Helps students become more organized: Organizing what you’ve learned to produce well-thought responses that can also be applied practically will become crucial in your day-to-day life.
• Helps foster discipline and responsibility: If students want to become successful, not just in the eyes of society but for their personal achievements as well, they must be disciplined and have to take on responsibilities.

Connects School and Home

“Why is homework necessary?” you ask. For starters, it bridges school and home life. Parents are the vital link between schools and students becoming college and career-ready. 

And parent engagement is more powerful than any other form of involvement or support at school. It strengthens the vital educational triangle uniting parents, home, and school. 

Prepares High School Students for The Future

You can become more resilient and adaptable to challenges in your life. You’ll most likely feel more prepared when these challenges come. What’s more, you can become a better problem-solver and can improve your analytical and critical thinking skills in the long run. This is why homework is beneficial.

Helps Develop A Growth Mindset and Time Management Skills

If you're still wondering, "Why is homework important?" Then, you should know that it can help you foster a growth mentality. What does this mean? Instead of feeling victimized by challenges, failures, and other difficulties, you'll develop a mindset where you view these things as opportunities to grow. At the end of the day, these difficulties can be your best teachers.

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Homework: Tips and Tricks

Now that we've taken a look at all the reasons why homework is beneficial to your growth and life let's take a look at some tips you can apply to your homework sessions. If you're still having issues, you can always send a " do my homework " request on Studyfy to get expert help. ‍

To effectively tackle homework, consider these strategies: take regular breaks to refresh, collaborate with friends for support, create a conducive homework area, actively engage in homework discussions, minimize distractions, adhere to a homework timetable, form a study group, organize a dedicated study space, prepare all necessary materials in advance, listen to instrumental music to maintain focus, reward yourself for completing tasks, practice efficient time management, and leverage available resources for assistance.

1. Create A Study Space : Moving on from finding out why homework is good, the first tip to make homework sessions easier is to create a dedicated study space. By doing this, you can potentially trick your mind into focusing better in that said space.

2. Establish A Routine : Create a homework schedule and stick to it. By doing this, you're freeing up your time by prioritizing your responsibilities first. It might be hard at first, but it's work sticking by. Moreover, if you're curious, you can take a look at who invented homework and why , and you might get some inspiration from knowing this.

3. Prioritize The Difficult Tasks in Homework Assignments : Continuing why should students have homework and homework tips, another great tip is to tackle difficult homework first. This gives you enough time to complete them, ensuring you meet your deadlines. It also frees up your time and speeds up the process.

4. Make Use of Apps : Apps like Quizlet and Evernote can help streamline your sessions. You can note down reasons on, "How is homework beneficial?" to help you get motivated or simply note down important notes from class and more.

5. Break Tasks Up : For lengthier and more complex tasks, you can simply break them up into smaller and more doable portions. Need more reasons on why is homework good for students so you can learn how to motivate yourself to do homework even more? Keep reading, and you’ll know all there is to know about homework and how to finish it easier.

6. Get Help : How does homework help students when a task is too difficult? Difficulty motivates us to try harder. However, if you feel like you're stuck, don't be afraid to seek out help. You can ask teachers, friends, and your parents for extra guidance.

7. Employ Study Methods : Use study methods like summarizing, memory flashcards, and quizzing yourself. "Why is homework beneficial?" It helps you apply problem-solving skills effectively, just like these 3 methods.

8. Free Yourself From Distractions : One of the reasons why homework is good is it teaches you to focus and to cut off distractions. A habit that applies to anything in life. Free up your study space from all potential distractions, like phones, tablets, and TV.

9. Prioritize Health and Sleep : "Why is homework helpful?" For starters, if you prioritize your work, you are obligated to also take care of your health and get enough sleep. By doing so, you can focus and work better. Good habits produce more good habits.

10. Find Your Purpose : The last tip, but not the least important, is finding out your "Why." Find out why you want to work hard. Instead of summing it up to, "I want to get into a good school" or "I want to make a lot of money as an adult," find a deeper purpose as to why you should be diligent.

Maybe you're doing it for self-improvement, or maybe you want to change the world for the better. You can potentially get to know yourself better, and you realize this is why we should have homework.

Did you like our Homework Post?

For more help, tap into our pool of professional writers and get expert essay editing services!

What are the reasons why students should have homework?

As we've already seen, homework helps foster better cognitive abilities, train discipline, and prepare students for what's coming.

If you're still struggling with your homework, you can get physics homework help and help for other subjects, too, on Studyfy. It's alright to have difficulties, if you try to improve, results will surely show up.     

How can parents help with homework?

Homework is important, therefore you should ask your parents for help and further motivation if needed. They can offer help when necessary and let you solve problems on your own to foster independence. They can create a space where learning is easy and there are no disturbances.

Can too much homework be counterproductive?

While the benefits of homework are plenty, too much homework can be counterproductive. If this is the case, you can directly talk to your teachers and negotiate with them. If you have tests you need to study for, it can help to have less homework.

Too much homework creates unnecessary stress, no matter how good your time management skills are. Yes, homework improve academic achievement, but excessive homework, especially for younger students, doesn't reinforce learning.

Do the study tips this article has mentioned help?

Yes, they do. It's become apparent that to memorize large amounts of information, it is better to break them down into parts. As for the rest of the advice, it will improve most students' learning efficiency. You should still try to find out which methods work best for you.                                                                          

If you need more guidance, you can get math homework help and help for other subjects as well on Studyfy. Gain insights and advice from an expert today.

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Why showing your work works

Many math teachers ask their students to show their work or to write a sentence or two explaining their thinking . Some teachers even mark math homework as incorrect or only give partial credit if the student doesn’t show their work or explain their thinking.

It’s understandable that some learners might find it frustrating to have to explain how they solved a math problem. After all, some learners just get it, and some can even solve problems in their minds without writing anything on paper. Why should these intuitive math learners spend extra time showing how they figured out that 4 x 4 = 16 or that a 15% tip brings the total cost of a meal to $25.00?

The truth is that even though these learners may sometimes feel frustrated, it’s usually still worth it for math learners to show their work . Here are three reasons why:

Showing work can help you figure out where you made a mistake.

Let’s imagine that Marisol the math student’s teacher gave the class a two-step word problem that involved first finding out how many students were at school on a service project day and then dividing these students into 7 equal teams. The school has 126 students total, but 14 students were absent the day of the project. The teacher wanted Marisol and the other students to show their work by drawing a tape diagram or picture and clearly demonstrating every step they took to solve the problem.

Marisol solves 126 ÷ 7 in her head and then quickly writes down an incorrect final answer of 18. She feels confident in her answer because she knows she has to divide to get equal teams, and she is great at mental math. Unfortunately, because she never drew a tape diagram or picture to show her thinking process, it may be hard for her to see why she got the question wrong. Her picture or diagram would probably have helped her realize that she skipped an important step by not subtracting the number of students absent from 126.

Seeing how a learner solved a problem helps a teacher, tutor, or caregiver know what the learner does or does not understand.

Let’s imagine that Mica the math student’s teacher asked the class to solve this multiplication problem: 26 x 38.

Mica understands how to multiply two-digit numbers really well but sometimes flips numbers in his mind. Mica solved 26 x 83 and got the answer 2,158. If Mica only writes down the final answer, the teacher might assume that Mica doesn’t know how to multiply two-digit numbers.

But if Mica shows his work or explains the steps he took, the teacher will see that Mica knows how to multiply but just mixed up two digits. The teacher may also give Mica partial credit on homework or a test. They may also help Mica by reminding him to check the order of the digits when doing math work.

Showing work or explaining process builds critical thinking and communication skills.

It’s true that not every math problem requires lots of shown work or a sentence explaining how the student solved it. A learner may just know that 4 x 4 = 16, for example. And in an in-person class, a teacher can circulate and ask students to explain their thinking verbally rather than in writing. However, developing the ability to describe—in numbers, words, or both—how you solved a problem is beneficial in at least two ways.

First, being able to clearly show or explain step-by-step how to do something is a skill that transfers to many real-life situations : from sharing a recipe to writing a protocol for scientific research.

Second, becoming aware of your own thinking process and learning habits helps you tackle learning tasks in all subject areas at all levels . For example, if Marisol knows that she is a quick thinker who tends to miss details when she hurries, that awareness can help her become a stronger reader. Recognizing that she reads math problems a bit too quickly, she might start to read more slowly and carefully in her science, social studies, and language arts classes, too.

Math is about more than just finding quick answers . Math is a language, and part of being fluent in a language is communicating your thoughts to others. Math is also about more than final answers. Math is a process and an opportunity to build self-awareness and problem-solving skills that can be applied both inside and outside the classroom.

Ready to learn more about and practice some of mathematical problem-solving skills mentioned in this blog post? Check out these books!

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What Would Happen If Students Assigned Their Own Math Homework?

Instead of a set of 20 questions, use this framework to have your students create their own homework based on their needs and interests.

Is homework worthwhile? Does doing it make a difference in learning? These questions are the source of much debate nowadays. Some may say homework is good practice, and practice makes perfect. Others insist homework is unproductive and pointless.

What benefit is there in doing 20 of the same type of math problem? If students didn’t understand the lesson from the day, not understanding 20 problems may make them feel that math is inaccessible. This is how children begin to struggle in math and decide it’s not for them. And if they did understand the lesson, repeating similar problems is pointless. Worse still, students begin to believe math is boring, irrelevant, a set of mundane rules, and maybe even a waste of time.

What if homework could be a means for promoting self-efficacy, agency, and motivation to learn? Teaching students to actively pursue knowledge and see it as valuable is critical to their success both in and out of school.

In this light, the following option for math homework was born.

The “What I May Need… What I Loved…” Math Investigation

The “What I May Need…What I Loved…” math investigation below was crafted out of a desire to teach students that learning requires a personal commitment, in class and at home. Because knowledge is not static, it is vital for learners to be able to pinpoint how and when understanding happens for them and when it doesn’t. Students need to be shown how to self-reflect and identify points of clarity or moments of confusion. Then, if something doesn’t click during the math lesson and questions remain, students are given support and options for further self-study. And recognizing when something sparks an interest and using that to fuel a passion is how learning thrives.

In this assignment, students choose to focus on either an area they didn’t fully understand or something they found interesting or engaging. The important part here is not the doing of the homework. The magic of this assignment is that students are the driving force behind the decisions. They get to practice self-motivation, preparation, and persistence by making daily decisions on their own behalf. To top it off, the focus is on evaluating personal learning and growth. What better way for students to discover their identities as capable mathematicians than to be in control of monitoring their progress and investigations?

When introducing this, you may want to have students to do a test run in class, trying several options, reflecting on them, and sharing thoughts in small groups. Create an anchor chart of helpful hints for getting the most out of this homework option and display it near the Standards for Mathematical Practice . Ask students what connections they notice. There is a strong correlation between the SMPs and good habits of mind for learning. Provide time for students to discover their part in becoming persistent as mathematicians. Persistence takes action.

Making This Homework Option Work

1. Begin transferring responsibility for learning from teacher to students: If teachers want students to recognize what they need or love in a math lesson, students must first see learning as important. Learning takes action. This truth is foundational for promoting agency, self-efficacy, and growth mindset in students.

No paradigm shift will work without some personal investment. Before rolling this out, teachers need to set the stage so students trust that investing in it is worth it. Where do teachers begin? Here are two simple but powerful ways for creating an environment where students feel empowered as learners:

• Infuse questions throughout the math lesson that encourage reflection and allow moments of pause as students identify points of learning. Recognizing clarity and confusion are pivotal to learning. When a student knows what understanding looks like and feels like, they are better equipped to repeat it.
• Provide questions or sentence stems that facilitate self-monitoring by slowing down the learning process in real time long enough for students self-reflect, track progress, and devise a plan that stimulates further growth.

2. Get parents on board: Buy-in from parents is critical to this idea working. Otherwise, it could turn into just another menu or tic-tac-toe board where students choose what they’d like to do each evening to show mastery, which can sometimes result in more rote learning. Again, it is not in the doing that makes “What I May Need… What I Loved…” so valuable to student growth. It is the idea that students self-monitor their learning needs and then do something about what they discover that makes this idea so transformative.

Sharing research on growth mindset with parents is always a great starting point. Parents need to know that perseverance and hard work determine success. Jo Boaler offers a plethora of resources that reinforce the idea that anyone can succeed in math with confidence, effort, and determination.

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Student Opinion

Should We Get Rid of Homework?

Some educators are pushing to get rid of homework. Would that be a good thing?

By Jeremy Engle and Michael Gonchar

Do you like doing homework? Do you think it has benefited you educationally?

Has homework ever helped you practice a difficult skill — in math, for example — until you mastered it? Has it helped you learn new concepts in history or science? Has it helped to teach you life skills, such as independence and responsibility? Or, have you had a more negative experience with homework? Does it stress you out, numb your brain from busywork or actually make you fall behind in your classes?

Should we get rid of homework?

In “ The Movement to End Homework Is Wrong, ” published in July, the Times Opinion writer Jay Caspian Kang argues that homework may be imperfect, but it still serves an important purpose in school. The essay begins:

Do students really need to do their homework? As a parent and a former teacher, I have been pondering this question for quite a long time. The teacher side of me can acknowledge that there were assignments I gave out to my students that probably had little to no academic value. But I also imagine that some of my students never would have done their basic reading if they hadn’t been trained to complete expected assignments, which would have made the task of teaching an English class nearly impossible. As a parent, I would rather my daughter not get stuck doing the sort of pointless homework I would occasionally assign, but I also think there’s a lot of value in saying, “Hey, a lot of work you’re going to end up doing in your life is pointless, so why not just get used to it?” I certainly am not the only person wondering about the value of homework. Recently, the sociologist Jessica McCrory Calarco and the mathematics education scholars Ilana Horn and Grace Chen published a paper, “ You Need to Be More Responsible: The Myth of Meritocracy and Teachers’ Accounts of Homework Inequalities .” They argued that while there’s some evidence that homework might help students learn, it also exacerbates inequalities and reinforces what they call the “meritocratic” narrative that says kids who do well in school do so because of “individual competence, effort and responsibility.” The authors believe this meritocratic narrative is a myth and that homework — math homework in particular — further entrenches the myth in the minds of teachers and their students. Calarco, Horn and Chen write, “Research has highlighted inequalities in students’ homework production and linked those inequalities to differences in students’ home lives and in the support students’ families can provide.”

Mr. Kang argues:

But there’s a defense of homework that doesn’t really have much to do with class mobility, equality or any sense of reinforcing the notion of meritocracy. It’s one that became quite clear to me when I was a teacher: Kids need to learn how to practice things. Homework, in many cases, is the only ritualized thing they have to do every day. Even if we could perfectly equalize opportunity in school and empower all students not to be encumbered by the weight of their socioeconomic status or ethnicity, I’m not sure what good it would do if the kids didn’t know how to do something relentlessly, over and over again, until they perfected it. Most teachers know that type of progress is very difficult to achieve inside the classroom, regardless of a student’s background, which is why, I imagine, Calarco, Horn and Chen found that most teachers weren’t thinking in a structural inequalities frame. Holistic ideas of education, in which learning is emphasized and students can explore concepts and ideas, are largely for the types of kids who don’t need to worry about class mobility. A defense of rote practice through homework might seem revanchist at this moment, but if we truly believe that schools should teach children lessons that fall outside the meritocracy, I can’t think of one that matters more than the simple satisfaction of mastering something that you were once bad at. That takes homework and the acknowledgment that sometimes a student can get a question wrong and, with proper instruction, eventually get it right.

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Why Is Math Important? Good Reasons To Learn Math Today

We cannot underestimate the importance of mathematics in everyday life. We use mathematical concepts and the skills that we gain from learning mathematics in our lives daily even without realizing it. Mathematical laws govern everything around us and you can encounter significant challenges in life if you have a poor understanding of this subject. This article discusses 10 reasons why math is to human life.

Table of Contents

Math is important because it improves your social life, math degree will help you make informed decisions, why math is important in life and career.

So, why is math so important? Math is one of the basis of existence, and can be seen everywhere. A lot of important science and engineering subjects are also based on math, and that is why, even if you are not planning to pursue anything technical, it is important to have at least a basic knowledge of math. Here are the first few reasons of why you should study math:

Perhaps one of the less expected areas where knowing math can be helpful is your social life. Math knowledge can be useful in surprising ways. Here are the detailed reasons on why math is so important in social situations:

Decision making can be one of the hardest things, but math does improve your critical thinking and logical thinking skills, so it will also lead to your brain making decisions faster. Check out the details on why mathematics is important for decision making:

Finally, and obviously, the most important reasons that math is essential is that it can have a very beneficial effect on your life, and especially career. There are many aspects of life that math in utilized, and many careers depend on math knowledge.

Need Help With Math Homework?

In summary, the importance of math education revolves around everything in life. You will see the laws of math everywhere including mature and the problem solving skills that you develop. The subject can help you handle virtually everything in life. The most important thing is to know how to learn math so that it does not sound complicated and boring. It will help you to experience the world around you in the most interesting way. By now, you should not be wondering why is it important to learn math. And if you are now motivated to do well in math class and are also thinking ‘can do my math homework for me ?’, you can always get help with your math homework with our homework writing service. We have the best math solvers who will make sure you get the best grades in your class, be it high school or university.

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More From Forbes

How the ‘lady gaga of math’ is thinking differently about math education.

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New ideas have the potential to power real progress for students and a new mindset around math ... [+] overall

This post has been updated to include additional context about math education in the United States and globally.

Math education is rapidly changing.

And while there are real headwinds with respect to math achievement , the new ideas and curricula that are emerging have the potential to power real progress for students and a new mindset around math overall. Across the world the scope and sequence of the actual math content being taught is shifting. New research shows that it is part of a growing understanding that the application of math knowledge in the world of work—now, and later—demands different competencies and skills.

Currently, substantive insights are being surfaced and there are critical conversations to be had about math education spanning a wide range of nuances including curricular content, personalization, structuring time, teacher support—and much more. Shifts focused on improving student performance in math are occurring as we speak:

• Korea released an updated curriculum which actually narrows content in elementary and middle school math to allow more time for deep learning.
• Georgia revised its math standards to focus more on strategic math thinking and reasoning to better reflect what is needed in workplaces.
• Florida added data analysis and probability as a core strand of K–5 math.
• Estonia restructured their schedule so that students in Grades 10–12 take an average of 32 short courses per year and must complete a minimum of 96 courses to graduate over three years.
• In Maryland, teachers will have about 40 percent of their working time for planning, collaboration and job-embedded professional learning due the the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.

Math education for today’s young people should look far different from the traditional mathematics experience that so many of us had, especially when it comes to applying mathematical knowledge to real-world challenges.

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And yet, what happens when a student says, “I don’t like math” or “I’m not good at math”–or even worse, “I’m not doing math”?

The substance of what is being taught in mathematics is truly at the heart of the matter. However, it’s also critically important to build a culture of math confidence that alleviates fears in young people and propels them to value and embrace real-world applications of math.

A passionate voice on math education and how young people experience it is Vanessa Vakharia, who has been called “The Lady Gaga of Math Education”.

Vanessa Vakharia has been called “The Lady Gaga of Math Education”.

A champion and supporter of young people seeing their own math potential come to fruition, Vakharia runs Math Guru , a Toronto-based math tutoring center, hosts a weekly Math Therapy Podcast , has written two Scholastic-published books aimed at helping young people overcome fear and anxiety about math, and has a third book on the way in September.

Our conversation covered a lot of ground including her take on the changes in math instruction, what she sees in her work with young people, what advice she has for educators in helping learners succeed and thrive with math.

Vicki Phillips : Vanessa, I’d like to start with your personal story with math: what was your experience as a student and how does it inform your work today?

Vanessa Vakharia: Once upon a time there was a girl who dreamed of marrying Keanu Reeves and becoming a rockstar … no, but for real though…When I was in high school, I went to a high school in Toronto that was super academic. The message I got every day was: “If you’re not getting an ‘A’, you’re not worth our time. I failed Grade 11 math twice and then squeezed by with a 57% in summer school, at which point, my parents decided it was time to try something new. I ended up at an alternative school down the street.

I walked into my new Grade 12 math classroom the first week of school and looked straight at my math teacher, Ewa (who I’m still best friends with to this day) and said: “You’re going to have a lot of trouble with me, I’M NOT A MATH PERSON.” She looked right back at me and said the words that would forever change my life: “That’s. Not. A. Thing.”

I ended up with 96% in that Grade 12 math class and started wondering what ELSE I could do that I had believed for my entire life that I couldn’t? So I started a rock band , got a commerce degree, then a teaching degree, then decided to study WHY it is that so many women get told they’re not “math people”. I then got a Master’s degree which culminated in a thesis called “Imagining a World Where Paris Hilton Loves Math,” opened Toronto’s first boutique tutoring studio & study lounge ( The Math Guru ), and now travel the world doing Math Therapy with educators—which is essentially professional development targeted toward helping educators heal their students’ math trauma so that they can all build better relationships with math!

VP: Now that is a math story that people need to hear! And it’s a story that is vital at a time when we’re seeing math performance decline around the world and here in the United States. I’d love to hear why you think so many students are struggling with math?

VV: This is a complex question with no one answer. The truth is that students are struggling with math for many reasons, but I’m going to share a thought that we rarely interrogate: the truth is that students have always struggled with math.

If you ask a completely randomized group of 20 adults how they feel about math, I will bet you 10 Canadian Dollars that at least half of them will admit to having a bad relationship with math. Most adults I know today hate math, have avoided certain career paths because they involve math, feel intimidated by anything related to finances or deciphering stats found in the news, and are terrified when their kids bring home their Grade 5 math homework.

We have to ask ourselves what our goal is here. Are we just looking for higher test scores? Or are we looking for a way to raise kids with meaningful, healthy relationships with math that will set them up for a lifetime?

I think it’s time to change the narrative and instead of asking, “ Why are students struggling with math? ” to start asking, “ Why have we been okay with raising kids who have hated math for decades, and how do we finally change that? ”

VP: So true! At the same time, systems can play a role in shaping how students relate to content. A lot of jurisdiction’s new curricula emphasize statistical modeling, data literacy, and career-linked math. Countries like South Korea are narrowing the scope of math content to focus on depth over breadth. What are your thoughts on this approach?

VV: I think that any new curriculum that emphasizes aspects of math that have traditionally not been honored allows students to see that there is so much more to math. It allows everyone to find something mathematical that they can connect with – and that is something that is so instrumental in empowering all students to build better relationships with math!

Depth over breadth is exactly where we should be heading.

If you look at much of our math curricula right now, it has a bit of an everything-but-the-kitchen sink approach at best . We need to ask ourselves what math in school is actually for and redesign our curricula from there. Both students and educators often complain about lack of continuity not only from one grade to another, but from one textbook unit to another.

Yes, the content we teach students needs to be able to take kids to the diverse places they might want to go, but they won’t get there by learning little bits of everything. Instead, by mastering a deep, meaningful relationship with mathematics they can build the knowledge base they need to propel themselves in any direction they might ultimately choose.

VP: That’s a helpful framing of why this shift to depth and more relatable content is potentially so powerful. Another powerful shift is the shift toward personalized learning. As a math educator, and tutor that provides specialized instruction, I’m interested in what you see as the potential benefits and drawbacks?.

VV: Honestly at this point, I think we need to try something different. What we’re doing isn’t working, and it hasn’t been for a long time. I’m all for a new approach to math learning if there’s a chance that we will raise future generations to not only love math, but to feel confident in using mathematics to enrich their lives, both personally and professionally!

It isn’t just what’s best for the individual, but for the whole. We need to raise generations of diverse mathematicians with different skills and unique approaches to solving problems. That is one of the cornerstones of economic, political, and social growth, so it truly serves all of us when we think about math in a way that includes more thinkers.

VP: I’d love to hear what advice you would give to educators and policy makers who are looking to address the math challenge as it were.

VV: My biggest piece of advice would be to give it time.

Too often we implement something new and then panic when it isn’t immediately successful. Meaningful change takes time. Just because something doesn’t work right away doesn’t mean that it won’t ever work.

In fact, any type of change in any type of situation often feels uncomfortable and even disruptive at first, but the real reward is felt once we take the time to adjust, course-correct, and commit to lasting, impactful change instead of settling on a quick fix just to get immediate results. The only way out is through!

VP: Vanessa, I’ve enjoyed this so much. Thank you for your time, your perspective and your passion for helping young people think differently about math!

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