Developing an understanding in number

3. Mental mathematics

Outside school, at least 75% of all calculations are completed mentally. It is important therefore that children have the opportunity to develop these mental computation skills. Mental computation may not necessarily be quicker than written computation but its importance lies in its portability and fl exibility.

Ways to improve your child’s mental computational skills

1. Help your child to appreciate how often people use mental techniques.
   
   
2. Encourage your child to explain how he/she performed a mental calculation. Explain how you would perform the same operation.
   
   
3. Emphasise the fact that there are a variety of methods for working out particular problems.
   
   
4. Help your child to realise that any method which produces the correct answer is valid, while encouraging him/her to compare and refi ne the methods used.
   
   
5. Discourage the view that the written method is either superior to, or more correct than, mental methods.
   
   
6. Encourage your child to differentiate between problems which require an exact answer and those where an approximation is sufficient.
   
   
7. Help your child judge whether an answer is reasonable.
   
   
8. Play games with your child. Children learn best when they are having fun. For example, adding scores when playing games.