Kids' play way to make it add up in your head

By REBECCA WALSH EDUCATION REPORTER

Here's the question: What is 61 minus 28?

Chances are that if you didn't reach for a calculator, you have your own tricks for working out simple maths problems in your head.

Once, your methods of problem solving might have been frowned upon, but a new way of teaching maths in primary school encourages students to do just that - and shows them quick alternatives.

The Count Me In Too programme, tested in 83 primary schools last year, aims to help children understand how numbers work and develop strategies to solve numerical problems.

It is being extended around the country this year as part of the Education Ministry's numeracy development project, designed to improve children's performance in maths.

At Newton Primary School in Auckland - one of those involved in the programme - a sea of hands are raised as teacher Lorraine Smith asks the class to show her "double five." For those "not in the know" that is both hands with fingers extended.

Learning "doubles" along with the "facts to 10" - where children become familiar with the combinations that add to 10, for example 4 plus 6 or 2 plus 8 - are major components of the programme.

"One of the key phrases for me was when a lecturer said 'smart kids don't count'," Ms Smith said.

"We have been taught to count on our fingers but it's not that good. It's very slow. If we teach children number facts from one to 10 and teach them doubles then they can go absolutely anywhere, she said."

Ms Smith said maths had always been a complex subject to teach, and unlike reading it was difficult to gauge a child's ability.

The programme not only gave teachers more confidence in teaching maths, it enabled them to see how a child was solving a problem - through the use of number cards, dice and building blocks - and pitch their teaching at the right level.

Seven-year-old Jackson Miller said maths was his favourite subject and "facts to 10" was "pretty easy."

"I learn it off the top of my head ... last year I got to do stuff like divide by three, which was really fun."

But for others it is not so simple.

Frances Kelly, senior manager of learning and evaluation policy at the Education Ministry, said New Zealand children had under-achieved in parts of the Third International Maths and Science study.

Many had difficulty understanding place values, the difference between 1, 10 and 100, and others struggled to understand backwards and forwards sequences.

To be able to improve learning, teachers needed to understand how children solved problems, she said.

An evaluation of the pilot programme would be released this month.

So, back to the original question: What is 61 minus 28?

Some might have gone for the option of 61 minus 30 equals 31, then added 2 to get the answer 33. Others might have tried 60 minus 28, got 32 and added the one.

Or did you cheat and take the electronic option?