Mathematics, math, or maths (as we call it in India), is considered a somewhat dry subject. Students are even scared of the subject sometimes. There are a lot of reasons for this, ranging from complexity, unfamiliarity, and even lack of understanding. One term that is regularly thrown about in this context is that math is not friendly.
What Is the Reason for This Perception?
There are a multitude of reasons for this kind of perception. One is that children move from their comfort zone of just numbers into an alphabet soup like in algebra. Some other children might find the tools that they need to use and the graphs that they study to be complex, impacting their perception of the subject. And this shift happens rather quickly as children move up grades.
Obstacles to Addressing the Challenges
There are some obstacles on the way to addressing these challenges.
Schools have a preset time within which to complete their syllabus. This prevents a teacher from being able to give personalised attention to each student. Add to this the fact that class sizes are usually large, and you get an idea of the scope of the problem.
Additionally, the difference between asking a student to imagine a cube versus actually showing them a cube (for example), will always be there. Not all students might be comfortable with abstract ideas and concepts. They require visualisation, or tools to visualise that which they are learning.
What do we mean when we say that the concepts are abstract? Basically, when you tell a child to imagine something, or assume that something is so because you say it is, it can hamper their understanding. Whereas, if you opt for visual teaching or a method where the student can actually see what they’re learning about, then you’re set up for student success.
And what do we mean by student success? Simply that the student learns and understands what has been taught. This, in turn, would increase their performance in exams. And all stakeholders will be satisfied with the performance.
How BYJU’S The Learning App Transforms Math Learning
Here’s how BYJU’S solved these problems by introducing a new solution built in-house, called BYJU’S The Learning App.
We at BYJU’S wondered if there was something we could do to improve student success. This led us to the idea, design, and launch of our app, BYJU’S The Learning App. In it, we invite the student to come into the world of mathematics, to take in the concepts through well-designed, clear videos that explain the concept using visuals that show the student what they are learning.
One additional feature we were adamant about focusing on was the fact that the content that we provide students should be self-paced. That is, the student should be able to decide what speed they want to learn.
Also, we wanted to focus on giving students the best possible experience through personalisation so that the content is suited to their learning styles and the feedback from our practice tests is geared towards maximising their performance.
Reframing Math Problems for Easier Understanding
For instance, one idea that we promote heavily is the idea of reframing a problem. What do we mean when we say this? Basically, when we need to find the area of say, the shaded region in this question, what would usually be the approach?
Step 1 – Find the area of the square.
Step 2 – Find the area of the circle.
Step 3 – Find the area of the square inside the circle
Step 4 – Subtract the area of the smaller square from that of the circle, and divide it by 4.
Step 5 – Subtract the area of the circle from the area of the larger square and divide that by 4.
Step 6 – Finally, add both the quarter-areas.
That sounds like a complicated process, doesn’t it? One, it is long-winded. Two, there is a high chance of making mistakes while solving these problems.
Instead, consider reframing the problem like this.
Do you see how much easier solving the problem becomes? That is all that is required. The ability to think and reframe the problem in such a way that it is easier to solve.
This is what BYJU’S The Learning App offers. A simpler, clearer explanation of different concepts. Tips and tricks to reframe problems that are given, and so on. And the app does all this while being fun and engaging. Ideas like the one above help a student to learn how to learn.
Learn by learning why it is interesting
One other thing that BYJU’S The Learning App does it point out what is interesting about a given topic. For instance, when a student learns about triangles for the first time, instead of just giving them information about what a triangle is, or the facts about it like all the angles will add up to 180 degrees, it’s better to tell students where they can find triangles in real life. For example, see this video:
This video showcases the importance and real life applications of triangles in an easy-to-consume manner. This helps students visualise the topic and become interested in knowing more. This, in turn, will lead to improved student outcomes. And here’s where the real value of BYJU’S The Early Learn App lies. It is designed for multiple grades and multiple subjects. We cover content from Grade 4 to Grade 10 for subjects like English, Math, Science, History, Geography, Civics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Economics. And the content spans multiple boards from CBSE, to ICSE, to multiple different state boards.
And here’s why BYJU’S The Learning App is the best app for learning math.
Math Content in BYJU’S The Learning App
What kind of math content does BYJU’S The Learning App contain? It has:
- ~6,000 videos (~72,500 minutes of content); for context, that’s the equivalent of 600+ movies!
- complete coverage of all the content in the syllabus
- ~500 interactive gaming experiences that will help your child learn by playing
- quizzes
- summary cards to help students identify and memorise important formulae
- practice tests if the student wishes to take them
- 24 X 7 access to all the learning material on the app so that the students can learn from anywhere at any time
- sample papers for exam practice
- previous year question papers so that students can get an idea of what to expect in their exams
Download BYJU’S The Learning App today for an enhanced math learning experience!
Download the app now from the link here.
