Solid Maths Foundation

Establishing a solid maths foundation Building a solid mathematical foundation is imperative for students to succeed in their future lives. Without solid maths skills, students tend to have trouble during their schooling and afterwards in their lives. Those who have weak basic maths skills find the subject increasingly confusing, boring and difficult. This leads to low attainment, lack of motivation and anxiety. Ensuring students have solid maths foundation, helps them develop a strong liking of the subject. Students who like maths consider it to be fun and subsequently enjoy doing the subject. A systematic approach is necessary in building a solid foundation in maths. Students who get a broad introduction to the subject develop a lot of understanding and confidence in the subject. Some parents like teaching or coaching their children at home. Although this is a supportive approach, there are however many errors that they make. Such errors include: reviewing maths concepts out of sequence, overemphasize arithmetic whilst overlooking other maths areas. There are five maths strands that have to be taught, and these are: Number Sense and Operations, Algebra, Shape, Space and Measure and Handling Data (which includes probability). A solid maths foundation therefore dwells on exploring the basics of these strands.