Friday, November 11, 2016

Let your fingers do the walking!

Have you ever been in the staff room and heard teachers complaining about their students counting on their fingers? Have you ever told your kids not stop doing it because they need to outgrow it? We all (or a lot of us) have these preconceived notions that using your fingers for math is “babyish” or denotes a lack of mathematical prowess.  Well, after reading this article written by Jo Boaler (ok to me a math guru) my eyes were opened and hopefully yours will be as well.


The article states that there is a “finger-representation” area in their brain where we actually “see” fingers even if we don’t use our actual fingers. The study showed that the better students used their fingers at a young age, the easier it was for them to solve complex problems later.  The researchers go as far as saying that preventing students to use their fingers could “halt their mathematical development”. Visual aids make math meaningful so why not their fingers? Allowing students to use WHATEVER tool they need could quite possibly move math from abstract to “cool” wouldn’t that be awesome?  I give this article a thumbs-up! (pun intended)
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4 comments:

  1. Mrs.Goggins Math BlogNovember 17, 2016 at 2:33 PM

    As educators we know differentiated instruction in math and all subjects can help students be successful. The use of hands on materials can help students have success in math. It only makes sense that if students wish to use their fingers to be successful they should. It was interesting to see that students were able to solve complex problems later.

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  2. Mrs.Goggins Math BlogNovember 17, 2016 at 2:35 PM

    As educators we know differentiated instruction in math and all subjects can help students be successful. The use of hands on materials can help students have success in math. It only makes sense that if students wish to use their fingers to be successful they should. It was interesting to see that students were able to solve complex problems later.

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  3. UnknownNovember 28, 2016 at 10:59 AM

    A fantastic read. I can totally relate to what the article is saying about 'seeing' fingers in your mind when doing math. Most of the math I do in my head I am visualizing something in my mind (frequently something akin to 'fingers', rods, etc.).

    I am most fascinated about this body of research regarding how important 'fingers' actually are in our cognitive development. Never would I have considered discrimination of fingers and using them to count for instance to be so important.

    I found this webpage that offers some activities for students to play/explore with their hands and fingers. Although this is not outright in the math curriculum (I wonder if anyone can speak to whether it is in the Physical Education curriculum?), based on this article there could be some real value for students if we could incorporate some of this in school.

    https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chtouch.html

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