What it’s all about
Spot and solve pupils’ maths problems with More Trouble with Maths, the follow-up book to The Trouble with Maths, writes Craig Barton.
The books are written by former teacher Steve Chinn. They are guides to identifying and diagnosing difficulties with maths, including dyscalculia and mathematical anxiety, and offer practical advice for helping learners with numeracy difficulties.
The issue I always have with academic research, no matter how credible its findings, is that the recommendations are rarely accompanied by practical resources and ideas that will make an immediate difference in the classroom. I am delighted to say that these two books do exactly that.
In More Trouble with Maths, Chinn provides research evidence and tests to photocopy for identifying crucial mathematical difficulties that are prevalent in schools. Amid the coverage of conditions such as dyscalculia, there are fascinating sections about learners’ struggles with estimation and the crucial impact of short-term memory.
All these research findings are complemented nicely by The Trouble with Maths, where the focus is very much on practical solutions and strategies. My favourite part is the final section on fractions - a notoriously problematic topic for many pupils. The author pulls apart common approaches to teaching fractions, explaining clearly the misconceptions and difficulties to which they may lead. He then offers an alternative approach, including addressing multiplying fractions through paper folding.
These two books make fascinating reading, but more importantly I know they will have a long-term, positive effect on my teaching and my understanding of the difficulties many learners face with mathematics.
