Kellie Hansen Mental Math

Kellie Hansen- Literature Review

Title:  Mental Math

Author:  Marilyn Burns

Source: http://www.mathsolutions.com/documents/2007_Instr_MentalMath.pdf

Summary:

Marilyn Burns explains how everyday we need to be able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide without having a pencil and paper handy.  We use this to keep track of shopping, figure tips, when to leave the house to get to a movie on time, double and half recipes, and so on.  She mentions at least half the time we do this math we are out and about and have to figure it out mentally.  She goes on to say because this is such an important role in our everyday lives, we should be teaching this in our classrooms on a regular basis.  When she wants to do mental math in the classroom she does what is called, “hands-on-the-table-math.”  This means no paper and pencil, no manipulatives, and no books.  She uses the following way to explain mental math to kids:

1.      We use our heads (hands-on-the-table, no pencil and paper, no books)

2.      We do it together (you don’t have to figure the answer by yourself)

3.      We need everyone’s help (you need to be able to share your ideas and listen to others)

4.      We record on the board (the teacher’s job is to listen to ideas and keep track of them on the board)

Marilyn encourages students to explain their reasoning even if they do have the correct answer.  “Explaining is important for all students all the time.”

Analysis:

This article hit home with me.  Just the other day I put a problem on the board for my students to figure out.  My problem was:  I am going to a dinner banquet, it cost $95 for one person’s dinner ticket, there will be twelve people at the table.  About how much should it cost for everyone at the table.  I got answers that varied from $120 to $1200.  Right then I learned my students did not know how to do mental math.  They were too worried about using a paper and pencil.  When I saw this article it gave me an “ah, ha” moment.  I need to have my students “discuss” how they would get to an answer with other classmates.  I need to make sure my students are able to explain how and why they came to the answer they did, rather than having them just solve a problem.  I am going to give the opportunity to my students on daily basis to try mental math with a partner and then have them give me an answer with an explanation.  Using mental math is a great way to prepare for tests as well.  Teaching my students to use mental math to sort out which answers could NOT be correct and then figure out which answer is correct is a better way to prepare for any math test given.  I am excited to see how my next math test turns out.