Our approach is to use the Brain Mind Learning Principles to engage students in the learning process. The latest research on the brain shows how to empower students to be successful in any learning situation. We are focused on empowering students in helping them achieve the academic progress they are desiring.
Academic progress means increasing marks. and more importantly 'learning how to learn'. Through learning how to self-assess, learning how to ask questions and learning how to develop schemas for learning, the student will develop lifetime learning strategies that will not only result in success in math, but will be transferable to many other areas of life.
The 3 Learning Foundations of the Brain Mind Learning Principles
(Caine and Caine 2005)
1. An Optimal Emotional State
Kids learn when you believe they can. Our tutors work with one student at a time, so that they are totally tuned into what each one needs.
2. Optimal Opportunities for Learning
Kids need learning to be connected to their world. How does mathematics have meaning to their world? When students are learning how to be successful in their math course, they are developing skills helping them to be successful in life.
3. Optimal Ways to Consolidate Learning
Learning how to ask questions is an important part of making learning 'stick'. Listening is as important. Our tutors model these two skills in their teaching practice, and transfer them to students.
Instructional Strategy
So, to teach myself I came up with... 'Funky Math' - applying exciting technology, amazing learning strategies, and a dynamic interactive process to make it more fun. Guess what... it worked!
Communication
Students are taught one on one. Each student is assigned a highly specialized tutor who focuses on their individual learning strategies. Parents provide all the necessary connections to past and present needs and assessments, and connections with the school are made as is necessary.
Skill Development
All of the skills of the current math course/curriculum are covered in the sessions. Remediation of skills is accomplished by connecting what the student knows to what is needed to know. Sometimes extra lessons are required to bring students up to 'speed' with their current knowledge. Usually, this can be accomplished in a short period of time, while still engaging in what is currently taking place in the classroom. This is a huge advantage in saving self-esteem.
What is learned in the current grade has a foundation from the previous grade, as well as a connection to the upcoming one(s). Providing students with this connection creates a way to enhance understanding - one of the brain/mind learning principles.
The Math Curriculum
There is a structure to the math curriculum in North America that is consistent throughout the grades. The base of the structure is the four foundations. These are followed by concepts, then skills and finally the processes necessary to complete the skills. Funky Math has developed a proprietary method of teaching math using proprietary materials.
Foundation 1: Number Concepts & Operations
This strand includes all of the basic skills necessary to do the computations necessary to excel in math. Foundation (Starnd) 1 is emphacized in math instruction up to the 6th grade.
Foundation 2: Patterns and Relations
Algebra is introduced in through more complex concepts by the start of the middle years.
Foundation 3: Shape and Space
The concepts and skills of geometry and trigonometry start to take on a greater importance throughout the middle school years. This increases thorouhgout high school, as the focus moves into coordinate geometry and higher order trig functions.
Foundation 4: Data Analysis and Probability
Gathering information to be analyzed, reading and writing graphs and the measures of central tendency are a few concepts students learn throughout the grades.
Note:
In some provinces/states Measurement is considered a fifth strand. When there are only four strands, measurement is incorporated into Strand 3.
